


The Secrets We Keep

by Tolaya



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bonds, Death, F/M, M/M, Secrets, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 11:38:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tolaya/pseuds/Tolaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How will the Command Trine survive when the biggest secret among the decepticons is unravelled during a raid? Why does Thundercracker leave, why is Starscream so close to the blue seeker, and why is the obnoxious seeker so protective of his stupid, moronic trinemates? The Autobots have frontseats for the drama of the vorns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“The frag?” Skywarp asked aloud when he watched the silhouette of the blue seeker he for millions of years had called his best friend disappear in the distance.

Starscream standing beside him looked just as incredulous at the leaving seeker as the teleporter self.

Skywarps question summed it up nicely for the transformers on both sides that had witnessed what had transpired before them just astroseconds before.

o o o

The battle had started just as normal; Megatron ordering the deceptions on a raid, and the autobots arriving to stop them in their doings.

Prime had charged Megatron as usual.

Prowl had calculated scenarios.

Ratchet had yelled at them to be careful.

And the Twins had eagerly thrown themselves into the fight.

Soon every ‘bot and ‘con was engaged in combat, the frontliners clashing in close hand to hand, while the snipers would hide and shoot their targets either out of the sky to make it easier on the ground troops, or to stall the advance of ground mechs from the opposite fraction.

Then the seekers had arrived, also as usual.

And the Twins had decided to play with the jets.

Nothing new at all.

Or that was what the most thought.

Until something strange happened.

Some just dismissed it as luck, others began to wonder…

Thundercracker had been firmly targeted by the twins, both attempting to jump the blue seeker, to take him out of the air.

But to their surprise, and every other autobot following the happening in the air, the blue seeker evaded in a maneuver that should not have been possible for a mech his size and with the kind of speed they knew this particular seeker was capable of going.

Something was amiss.

The twins looked at each other greatly bemused as they descended to the ground, not managing to land on their target, not even being close.

In the air the blue seeker just carried on, like nothing had happened.

Meeting up with his trine Thundercracker valiantly defended their ground troops and it seemed that for once the decepticons would be victorious.

At least that was, until one of the snipers got a lock on the blue seeker and tried a lucky shot.

The shot went wide, and instead of hitting the thrusters it ricocheted to impact with the seekers throat.

The next thing Thundercracker had known was that he was flat on the ground, surprisingly whole and almost undamaged.

“’Cracker?” a voice called beside him.

Skywarp, of course.

Smiling to his long-time friend Thundercracker found his footing and rose from the ground where he had laid.

“I’m fine, Warp. Don’t worry.” The blue seeker said to console the worried expression on the black and purple seekers faceplate.

Unfortunately all it did was to worry his trinemate even more, and caused a frown to occur on the carefree faceplates.

Because the voice saying those words was not the usual baritone of Thundercracker, no it was a lot more high-pitched. Not as much as Starscream’s, and definitely NOT Thundercracker.

The blue seeker instantly touched a servo to his vocalizer, cursing when he felt the damage there.

‘Frag it! Why? Why now? After all this time, why right now?’ The blue seeker asked himself as he looked around to see the countless optics looking at him.

Powerful jet engines were heard before they saw Starscream land to see what had caused the fighting on both sides to stop. Megatron was too far away with the Prime, still fighting and wanted to know why his troops was standing and ogling.

Seeing the subject of interest was his two idiotic trinemates, the trineleader sighed.

Dissolving the group around the now three seekers quite easily with his screechy voice and some well-placed shots from his nullrays, Starscream turned to face his trinemates.

Thundercracker was still favoring his throat while Skywarp was staring at the blue seeker like he had never seen the other before.

“What happened?” he asked the two.

“I-. He-. Uh. I think that there is something wrong with ‘Crackers vocalizer.” Skywarp finally managed to put together.

At that Starscream saw the wound that Thundercracker covered with his servo.

“Let me have a look.” He offered.

But to both his and Skywarps surprise the blue seeker shook his head in denial.

“Don’t be silly Thundercracker.” Starscream admonished.

“You sound awful.” Skywarp supported his trineleader, not able to forget the NOT Thundercracker-like sound that his friend had talked in.

Once again the blue seeker shook his head, all while he backed away from his trinemates.

Frowning Starscream took a step forward.

The next klik the blue seeker had engaged his thrusters and had taken to the sky.

Shocked the two seekers on the ground just watched their trinemate leave.

And then we are back to Skywarps incredulous outburst.

What the Pit was going on with the blue seeker?

o o o

Thundercracker vocalized several cybertronian and even earth based curses as he flew away from the battleground.

Now and then checking that he was not followed he engaged a special scrambler he had had from the time before Vos fell when he knew that none of the others had followed him.

Setting his course to the continent of Africa the blue seeker contemplated what to do.

Megatron would be pissed, and he knew that at some point Starscream and/or Skywarp would try to find him. When they realized that nothing they did would be able to locate the blue seeker he knew that Megatron would go and blame Starscream.

Starscream would then suffer for something that the SIC for once had had nothing to do with. Thundercracker felt bad about the troubles this all would cause.

This meant that he had to return before everything went to the pit, but again not before any evidence that would show the blue seekers deception through all these thousands of vorns was erased.

He hoped that the damaged vocord-disruptor would have healed when that time came.

And that his cover had not been blown completely.

o o o

The fight had dissolved when Thundercracker went AWOL and decepticons and autobots parted with loud murmuring among them.

Megatron was pissed. And Starscream cleverly evaded the tyrant as long as he could. Unfortunately he was needed to debrief the officers about the whole happening, since he had been the only one close enough when the blue seeker had just up and left. And well, Thundercracker WAS his trinemate.

Landing on the flight deck he awaited Skywarps transformation before turning to the teleporter.

“Find Him ‘Warp!” Starscream hissed, not in the mood to deal with anything his trinemate would throw his way. 

Skywarp wisely sensed the mood and just nodded before he leapt and transformed to his jet once again.

::I’ll find him Scree. Don’t worry.:: was transmitted through the trines channel as the jet blasted away from the Nemesis.

Sighing Starscream turned to enter the sunken decepticon headquarters, sensing his doom approaching.

Entering the command center, Starscream was not surprised to see that every officer was present and eagerly watching him walk to his spot around the table.

Oh yes, he knew that they knew what was coming at him. And they didn’t even try to hide the malicious smirks.

Across the table Onslaught leered at him when he sat down. Beside him Hook shied away from him like he was cosmic rust.

Suddenly he greatly missed his brooding trinemate. Thundercracker would nurse his damaged wings when he returned from his usual spats with Megatron and ease the stiffness out of his frame, while patient and calmly listen to whatever argument Starscream had lost.

But Thundercracker was not there.

He had left them.

Had left Starscream.

Feeling depressing thoughts overtake his mind he viciously forced them back.

Now was not the time to brood.

He needed to be alert if he was to dodge the incoming accusations and hope to remain functioning.

It took the black and purple seeker almost a whole human day before he returned to the decepticon headquarters. Starscream was in their shared quarters nursing his damages from the awful meeting with Megatron and the rest of the command staff.

Sure he had been blamed for the whole ordeal, even the raid that had failed miserably when the thing with Thundercracker occurred – something that Starscream had argued that he could possibly not have avoided, since he didn’t know what the frag was wrong in it all.

Receiving only one ping as Skywarp landed in the base Starscream’s hope faltered.

Surely the teleporter would have found his best friend through all this time. The two had been almost glued together these many many vorns, Skywarp knowing all the special places Thundercracker liked to depart to when he needed to be alone.

But when the door to their quarters opened it was only the teleporter that entered.

The fact alone that Skywarp didn’t teleport in, but used the door told a lot about the mood the black and purple seeker was in.

Meeting his trineleaders faltering expression the teleporter uttered

“I could not find him.” Disbelief and misery filled his optics and he watched the slumped form of the other seeker showing the same emotions.

“Nothing?” Starscream weakly asked.

“Nothing. Not a single trace. It is like he has left the planet.” Skywarp told, optics pleading the other to tell that their blue trinemate had not abandoned them finally.

Skywarp had been searching every spot he had known to find the blue seeker before. But when those didn’t reveal his missing trinemate he began to travel up and down, slowly mapping the planet from north to south, hoping to get a ping from the seekers special signature.

His movements had of course been detected several times by the autobots, and he had had some run-ins with the slaggers, disrupting his methodical search. Surely they had not believed his claim, that his actions had nothing to do with them, the humans and any new scheme of Megatrons. The teleporter had not cared what the idiots thought of his actions then, and when they had drawn their guns he had just left.

The situation had happened on each continent this miserable planet had, and the last time one of the autoslaggers had managed to singe one of his wings severely enough that he had to return to the Nemesis, his flight sensors had gone completely awry.

Exhausted the teleporter dumped his frame on his berth to let Starscream access the damages to his wing, wincing when the singed sensors overstimulated his CPU from the brief touches.

“Ow. Careful Scree.” He pleaded.

The trineleader just ignored the words. There was no easy painless way to fix the over sensitized malfunctioning sensors.

“So you got nothing at all? Not the slightest unusual detection?” Starscream asked while working.

Easing more and more, as each of the malfunctioning sensors was turned off the black and purple seeker contemplated every signal he had detected on his patrol that had turned out to not be Thundercracker.

“Uh. No. Not before the slaggers fried my wing sensors. But I am not sure if the signal was a malfunction or actually there at that point.” He mused.

“Where was that?” Starscream asked.

“Africa.” He answered.


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoying the winds blow against his frame Skywarp reveled in the view from the top of the launch tower. Starscream was on shift and the teleporter found himself alone, Thundercracker still not returning.

Sitting on the edge he looked down into the moving masses of water crashing against the sturdy cybertronian alloy that the sunken spaceship was made of.

As he looked up again a figure in the distance caught his optics.

As it came closer the teleporter found the thing quite familiar, until he clearly could make out the blue coloration of the seeker flying in his direction.

“TC?” the black and purple seeker asked in disbelief.

When he saw that the figure indeed was his lost trinemate the teleporter jumped off the edge of the tower and flew to greet his friend.

As he met up with the blue seeker the other turned into his bipedal mode and looked at the teleporter with calculating optics.

Skywarp not caring that his friend was unusually silent just dove to hug the blue seeker around the waist, happy to have his trinemate back.

“Let’s fly a bit, okay ‘Warp?” Thundercracker asked in his very Thundercracker-like voice.

Just happy that everything was as it should be the black and purple seeker eagerly nodded before reverting into his jet mode and taking off.

The blue seeker following suite caught up to his erratic wingmate.

Time went by and Thundercracker began to increase the distance between the two, engaging speed that Skywarp had not known the other to possess. But no matter what, the teleporter took up the unvoiced challenge and pursued the other, trying to catch the blue seeker.

As Skywarp made a final teleportation and caught the blue seeker in the air he cheered.

“You know, TC, that I will always catch you. Always has.” He teased.

“That is right ‘Warp, but you forget something.” Thundercracker said, and now the voice was back to the awful high-pitched one he had heard at the raid.

Then Thundercracker released his sonic boom, and the black and purple seeker fell.

Discovering that his warp engine didn’t respond he watched as the water came closer and closer until…

He woke up with a scream in the trines quarters.

A dream, it was only a dream he told himself as his optics adjusted to the darkness in the room.

He could hear the faint sound of Starscreams cooling fans to the left, where the trineleaders berth was placed.

His spark still swirling madly from the nightmare he fumbled a bit before he managed to get out of the berth and reach the lightning.

As the light turned on he found that the room still missed a certain important occupant and turned to ask Starscream if he could recharge beside the trineleader.

But when he faced the berth upon which he had thought Starscream rested he was greeted with a horrified sight.

There on the berth lay his trineleader, optics dull and the berth covered in the mechs own life fluids.

The sound he had thought to be cooling fans working was the ragged breaths of the air commander forcing the needed air into his systems to cool down his internals.

“Sky…Warp.” Starscream wheezed servos flailing to reach the black and purple seeker.

“How? Why?” Skywarp asked, not understanding.

Trying to comm. Hook to get help, the only response he received was static on the line. Not able to move, like he was frozen to the floor he just looked on the scene of his dying trineleader.

“I can’t… live on… without him. He left… me. Why did he do that…?” Starscream managed to say through several heavy vents.

“He left me too…” the black and purple seeker pointed out, but it seemed that the other was too long gone.

As Starscream vented his last breath and his spark faded into nothing the teleporter just looked on completely devastated.

Now he was completely alone.

And then he awoke for a second time.

Darkness was filling the sight when he dared to open his optics.

Listening intently to his surroundings he heard the murmuring voice of Starscream talking in his recharge.

Daring to go and turn on the lighting when he heard the calm murmurings that sounded nothing like a dying mech he was greeted with the welcome sight of Starscream firmly snuggled in on himself, wings lazily hanging from the edge of the berth.

As he watched Starscream murmured two names, one usual when he obviously dreamt as he did now, the other was one that froze the energon in his lines when he heard his trineleader say it in his sleep.  
“…Thunder…Light…strike…”

Letting out a vent Skywarp turned off the light and returned to his own berth. Suddenly he did not dare to awake his trineleader. Starscream might be the only one he had left, if Thundercracker did not return.

Lying down, he initiated his recharge protocols and before long entered a dreamless but benefitting recharge.

o o o

Starscream knew he was dreaming.

He knew it because the surrounding was Vos before the war.

He knew it because the flier before him was long dead.

But none the less he reveled in the sight that greeted him from the arching doorway.

Lightningstrike an elegant female seeker entered the room he currently found himself in, and favored him with a wide smile.

Then the smile turned into a grin and the female ran to the tricolored seeker, the little thrusters making clinking and clanking sounds as they moved, and before long Starscream found his thrusters locked in a firm and tight grip.

Looking down he pretended to be angry at the antics of the Winglords little daughter. The female not deterred from tightening the grip and looking up with pleading optics shone with the white of her carrier and the green of her creator. The two colors blurred together now and then, causing interesting mosaics to form on the armor of the little seeker.

Not able to hold his mask Starscream soon relented under the continuous onslaught. The female was the most precious gem in the whole royal tower.

Femmes were rare and treasured for their ability to create and carry. When the transformers lost their access to Vector Sigma, the femme population around the planet became the only way for them to reproduce, and thus both praised for their ability as well as hunted for it.

That reason was why only a selected few knew of the existence of a femme seeker in the Winglords family unit.

Starscream had been the one to teach the little female discretely to fly together with any aerial maneuver that she at any point would need to know. The time spent with the little seeker had been one of his greatest joys in his life.

When she died, one fatal orn, the whole city state was informed of her existence and mourned united. Starscream had been devastated when he received the news.

Since then many of his recharge cycles would be filled with the returning dreams of the little femme seeker that he had teached to fly those many vorns ago. 

As the dream faded he was left with an uneventful recharge.

o o o

Thundercracker groaned as he felt the need to recharge.

The cave that he had taken shelter in was not the most comfortable to stay in. The size was barely enough for him to lay comfortable in and the cramped space did not help the inbound claustrophobia that seekers suffered from in too close confines.

But he had to endure it, because it was too dangerous for the decepticon to stay outside with the humans nearby and through the humans the autobots were never far away. He would just have to remake his makeshift home in the morning when his systems didn’t scream at him to recharge.

The chronometer woke the blue seeker early in the morning, just as the sun began to rise above the horizon.

Crawling out of the little cave he stretched when he was finally outside and able to stand upright. Every joint in his frame was stiff, and it toke a great deal of time to ease the stiffness out of them.

When he was a lot more comfortable in his frame he withdrew a cube of energon from subspace and drank the pink substance while studying the surroundings more firmly than he had done the day before.

This area had been chosen long ago, if he ever needed to stay away from the decepticon headquarters for a longer time. He had just not prepared it beforehand, something that he had regretted earlier, but he had not dared, in case his ever following wingmate would have found out of this particular location.

It was hard to hide from the teleporter and Thundercracker was actually surprised that he had not yet seen the wingspan of the black and purple seeker over the horizon.

Wondering how his trinemates fared back at the base, he hoped that they were both okay. But knowing Starscream he would be thruster deep in troubles, and the teleporter would be up to no good, getting him and the trineleader into even more troubles.

At that thought he could not avoid to smile a little. Skywarp sure knew how to make a mess, and sometimes even without attempting to.

The sun completely above the horizon Thundercracker faced his little home and decided on how to enlarge the cramped room inside the little cave, so he at least could lie comfortably and stand upright inside it. He would need to hide for an unknown amount of time, and the less he was in sight of any traveling human the safer he would be.

Beginning the slow demolition of the insides of the mountain he soon forgot most of his troubles, focusing whole heartedly on the task ahead.

o o o

A week passed and Starscream had Skywarp travel the continent of Africa again and again, when the signal that the teleporter had received while his wings were malfunctioning failed to show again. Starscream could not accept that he wasn’t able to locate his own damned trinemate.

During the week the two seekers regretted that their trine was only synced to each other and not bonded. But again it had been the blue seeker that had denied the bonding when they had talked about it at their early beginning.

Now Starscream felt stupid for not pressing the matter more, because if they had the bond, he would /know/ where his trinemates were, and the matter of getting Thundercracker to come back to the base would have been easy.

Going as far as engaging Soundwave in tracking the blue seeker, when Starscream own means of locating the flighty seeker ran out, he hoped that the skilled communications specialist would succeed in locating his trinemate.

But it was only to incredulously look at the telepath when he before the command staff proclaimed his defeat.

If the topic hadn’t been his missing trinemate Starscream would have gloated in the fact that even Soundwave for once was shortcoming and was to face the tyrant’s wrath.

Instead he just slumped in his seat and didn’t even enjoy when Soundwave visibly winced from the roaring voice of the displeased warlord.

With wings low on his back he left the command center as the meeting finished and somehow managed to find his way back to the trines quarters. Once again he was alone – Skywarp on one of his patrols to hopefully locate the blue seeker. But the trineleaders faith in the teleporter finding any trace had dwindled with every time the black and purple seeker returned without any result.

‘Thundercracker, why are you doing this?’ he thought as he lay down on the berth, hoping to get a little recharge.

His dreams had lately been disturbing. At first they had centered on the little female seeker he always dreamt of, but recently Thundercracker had invaded those dreams and the dreams had then turned into nightmares.

Even in his recharge he was reminded of his missing trinemate. Primus seemed to hate him at the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Africa:

As the week passed slowly for the two seekers back at the decepticon headquarters, the time went even slower for the self-imposed exiled blue seeker.

Thundercracker had used most of the three first days to enlarge the cave, and now he no longer suffered from the claustrophobia that had threatened him the first night cycle occupying the cave.

He had scavenged some unused buildings for materials to improve the defense of the cave, just in case he was found by the autobots or any lucky decepticon. He was not yet ready to return to the base, the vocord-disrupter was a delicate piece of hardware that would take some time to heal. While it was damaged Thundercracker would be left with the awful high-pitched voice and not be able to change it back to his own.

Fortunate that he always had a stash of energon in his subspace if anything should happen, he didn’t need to starve while he waited for the healing to progress.

But the long waiting raised some issues.

Seekers were after all not known to sit idle for longer periods of time. And the ingrained need to use their wings would be one of his enemies if he didn’t find something to occupy his mind.

The first days had at least been used to form the cave and make it comfortable. Now with the work done he had nothing else to do than sit and wait.

And he began to greatly miss his trinemates.

As time went his insecurity began to ask questions.

Did he do the right by leaving?

Maybe he could have explained and deterred their suspicions?

More and more questions grouped up on him, and suddenly he was haunted by scenarios in his recharge.

Starscream deactivated before Megatron, a fusion blast through his chest and Skywarp asking the blue seeker ‘Why weren’t you there? If you had been this would not have happened!’

Skywarp missing his wings, the precious black sheets ripped from his back by an angry grounder he had pranked and his trinemate telling him it was his fault. ‘Why weren’t you there to avoid him getting the idea in the first place?’ Starscream screeched while Skywarp lay prone due to the loss of energon he had sustained before he was found.

Then there were the nightmares of the raids that his trinemates would participate in while he was away; haunting dreams of the mangled remains of their corpses littering the ground because he wasn’t there to warn them of the incoming missiles or to jerk them out of the way of a certain fateful blast coming their way.

He shuddered as he recalled the worst of those dreams. He had awoken screaming their names and not being able to reassure himself that they were okay, since they weren’t there with him. Those nights had left him without recharge, more time to pass slowly while he tried to tell himself that they were okay.

But his spark had not believed him, and had not allowed him to enter recharge.

For once he wished he had agreed to the sparkbond, even if his secret had been revealed to the two other seekers. They might have understood, might even have kept his secret a secret. At least he knew Starscream would.

But with Skywarp in the picture, the equation was not as easily calculated.

Sure the teleporter was one of his best friends. But how Skywarp would react if he told the truth was unknown, and the risk had been too great at the time Starscream had asked them to bond.

Now however he might have to come clean to his trinemates if his cover was blown. The two seekers would be the only ones he would trust on the matter and the troubles that would come of the cover being blown.

He shuddered at the thought of Megatron knowing it all. He could see how the tyrant would begin to plot and come up with plans that would spell doom for the blue seeker.

Shaking his head he cleared his mind of the thoughts, those were after all only worst case, if his vocord-disrupter didn’t heal in time for him to return to the Nemesis before everything went crazy.

But not much time passed before his thoughts entered the same thought pattern.

o o o

Oil platform at the shore of Florida:

Megatron was furious.

A week had passed since the last disastrous raids where one of his elite seekers went AWOL, and now as he battled the Prime he could just watch as Skywarp flew by, screaming while the red autobot twin was latched firmly onto his frame.

Not far away Starscream fared no better. It seemed that the tricolored seeker had just given up. Even his smartass talkbacks had been few, and not voiced in the normal fierce tone.

Scowling he saw Skywarp finally crash, the twins making a mess by leading the black and purple seeker on colliding course into Starscream while they with jeers descended to the ground unscarred.

With a growl the tyrant had had enough.

“RETREAT!” Megatron yelled, making the order heard by everyone on the battlefield.

At the order the autobots cheered all while the decepticons withdrew from the ruined oil platform.

Throwing the Prime from his frame Megatron took to the air and with a last heated glance at his nemesis he left with the rest of his troops.

Starscream and Skywarp were carried by some of the others, while for once the cone heads was fairly undamaged.

His mood darkening at the sight of the prone frames, the two damaged seekers completely out, he promised to punish the useless idiots.

This was the second raid in a week Starscream and his trinemates messed up.

o o o

Prowl watched the autobots while they repaired the large leaking oil lines, a thoughtful look on his faceplates.

Beside him Jazz hummed a joyous tune looking at the battlefield swamping with working mechs cleaning the area of the spilled oil and restoring the platform into working condition. The decepticons always left a mess whether they won or lost the battle and the autobots was left with the cleaning.

Rousing the tactician from his thoughts Jazz then asked him a question he himself had wondered about.

“So, why did it go so easily today?” the saboteur asked curiosity filling his voice.

Prowl recalculated the scenarios he had run while the battle had been on, and his results had told him that the decepticons had the advantage this battle. There must have been something he had missed out.

Not far away Sideswipe covered Sunstreaker with a ball of oil to his chest, and the vain golden frontliner yelled out in fury before tackling the red twin. Brawling on the ground the two was soon covered completely in the sticky substance.

Sideswipe was still grinning when Prowl went to the two brawling frontliners to discipline them.

“Nice battle, eh Prowl?” he asked.

“Yes.” The stoic mech answered the dirty red frontliner.

Beside him Sunstreaker scowled at his twin. “For once we managed to get the seekers good.”

Laughing Sideswipe jeered. “Did you see how we managed to down Skywarp and Starscream? It was hilarious.”

Prowl never would understand the twins’ way of having fun. And he felt that once more something was missing in the picture.

It was Ratchet coming up beside the group of mechs that solved the mystery.

Growling at the twins for their jetjudo he admonished the two frontliners.

“If Thundercracker had been there you would not have escaped that move so easily, you know! You would have been scrap for me to put together. I have told you two troublemakers to be careful.” He said while threatening with one of his wrenches in hand.

Why Ratchet was together with them and not back at the Ark repairing was simply because no mech had suffered damages severe enough to require attention. The minor wounds would be attended to later, right now the reestablishing of the area of the battleground had more priority, and for once Ratchet bowed to the Primes wishes.

With the fact that Thundercracker hadn’t been at the fight Prowl reran his scenarios and found some surprisingly more favorable results. The fact that the calm and collected blue seeker had not been there had caused disruption of the command trines flight pattern and their awareness was weakened by missing one of the wings in the trine formation.  
That left the tactician shaken that one missing mech on the enemy’s side could turn the battle that much. What part did the blue seeker play in the trine? Thundercracker was not a mech to show much outwards and the autobots knew very little about the seeker.

Those thoughts raised a need to gain Intel on the blue seeker for further studies.

As the first thing when they returned to the Ark Prowl decided to discuss the issue with Prime and Jazz, hoping to get some useful knowledge out of the fact presented to them.

It might be the one thing that could win the war for them, he mused before he returned his optics to the working autobots once more.

o o o

Nemesis:

Starscream awoke with a pained groan.

As he opened his optics he was blinded with white light.

‘Great. The medbay.’ He thought.

He could hear voices talk somewhere not far away, and when his optics readjusted to the light he got a good look at his surroundings.

To his right he was shocked to see the black and purple frame of Skywarp. The teleporter not having one undamaged armor plate, and the black wings bend in various painful ways.

As he got a look on his own frame he could see the newly wielded lines telling the tale of his own damages that had been repaired.

Moving his wings slightly he winced.

Okay so not all had been repaired fully. He knew for the wings to hurt as they just had, that Hook must have let some of the more delicate damages to be taken care of by the seekers own self repair.

The tiny delicate wiring inside the wings was a nightmare to work on for a medic, and most of the times the self-repair did a better job healing the damages than if a medic had to make a mess of the insides of the wings.

The movement to the wings had alerted the present medics to the fact the SIC was awake and Hook came into view of the seeker checking the monitors by the berth.

“How do you feel?” the medic asked.

“Like slag. How should I feel?” Starscream sneered.

At that Hook turned to turn off the monitors and gestured to the seeker that he was free to go.

Hesitating Starscream asked, before rising from the berth.

“How, eh, how is Skywarp?” he asked, nervousness entering his voice. He winced as he heard how weak he sounded.

“Skywarp is to remain as he is.” Hook answered in a flat tone, uncaring. And before Starscream could say anything he added. “Megatrons orders.”

The fire that seemed to have left the SIC in the last week returned at that. He had already lost ONE trinemate. He was not going to lose the other because of some petty dispute.

Rising from the berth he closed in on the medic and growled causing Hook to unconsciously back away.

“You will repair him, and do it NOW! I will take care of Megatron” the seeker screeched.

Sure that the medic would do as he ordered Starscream left the medbay. But only after he had gently caressed the black and purple seekers shredded wings. They needed to stick together now that Thundercracker wasn’t there anymore.

Megatron had been right. Starscream had given up, given up on finding the blue seeker.

He just hoped that Thundercracker at some point would return.

But he had no hope of that happening.

o o o

The Ark:

Prowl entered the Prime’s office together with Jazz.

Optimus sat behind his desk reading the content of a datapad as the autobot SIC and TIC entered the room.

Greeting his officers he waited until they both had taken place in the chairs.

“What is it that you want to discuss Prowl?” he asked, curious.

“The fact that we should have lost the battle. Instead we won.” Prowl began, showing the surprise in the Prime’s optics.

“My calculations had the decepticons favored to a degree where we should have had several heavily injured mechs, and that Megatron would get away with a large amount of energon.” Prowl continued.

“But we won. And we didn’t suffer any severe damage, while the decepticons had to turn tail with some of their warriors heavily damaged. Starscream and Skywarp in particular.” The tactician concluded.

Nodding in understanding Prime waited for Prowl to continue.

“Ratchet reminded me that the decepticons at the moment are missing a key in their formation.”

“Thundercracker.” The Prime confirmed.

“Yes, Thundercracker. I suggest we investigate this turn of events further, at least to get more Intel on the blue seeker. I think we are on to something. Something important.” Prowl pointed out while looking at Jazz to see what the spec ops. mech thought.  
“I am with ya, Prowler.” Jazz nodded with a smile to both his superiors.

“Then it is settled.” The Prime decided.

“Jazz you will see what you can find out on the Nemesis, while we will let Teletran run a scan for Thundercracker. We might not get anything, since the decepticons don’t seem to have found their missing seeker yet, but let’s give it a try.” With that he stood and watched as the two other mechs left the office.


	4. Chapter 4

Nemesis:

The weeks following the failed raid at the oil platform went by different at the two bases.

Prowl scanned Earth for traces of the blue seeker, while some of the spec. ops autobots journeyed to the Nemesis to glean any Intel from their enemies that would tell them news about the blue seeker.

While the autobots was busy investigating, the Nemesis was strangely silent.

Even if Starscream had regained some of his usual fury, the seeker was not seen in the corridors or even in the rec room.

Megatron had not gone easy on his SIC when he found out that Starscream had defied him by ordering Hook to repair Skywarp. That caused more work for the medics, since the newly repaired seeker promptly returned to their care worse off than what the twins initially had done to him during the raid.

Two weeks went by before Starscream onlined from stasis. Two very silent and strange weeks those had been. Skywarp had been sitting by his trineleaders side all the time, and had not spared pranks any thoughts.

The silence just grew when Starscream finally was released from the medbay and returned to the trines quarters. The two seekers didn’t leave their private confines when others were around, and Skywarp gathered their rations late in the night cycle, only to return to the quarters.

Those few that had been lucky to get a glimpse of the seekers when they were out could tell the others of the unerringly haunted optics the two showed. It was like their mind wasn’t right anymore and every will to live just had evaporated.

They didn’t even go out to fly.

And THAT had at last even Megatron worried. He knew of their basic need for the air, he had regularly grounded the seekers as a punishment, and knew what would happen if a seeker didn’t get the needed air under its wings.

That a seeker willingly grounded itself was unheard of.

Entering his override code the tyrant walked into the room of the trine.

What he saw got him to instantly comm. Hook.

“Hook, I need you at the command trines quarters instantly.” Megatron growled before closing the comm. and hurry to the side of the two seekers.

When Hook arrived he was greeted with the sight of two catatonic seekers, optics open, but unseeing.

“Scrapper! I need you to ready two berths with intensive monitoring!” he yelled into his comm. With the look of the two seekers it seemed their sparks somehow had begun to fade.

Megatron watched as the constructicons gently carried the seekers to the medbay. The tyrant didn’t care much for his soldiers in general, and if anyone saw him they would just think that he worried for his command trine, and not for the individual seekers health. The seekers in the command trine were after all the most skilled, or had been.

He still didn’t understand what was going on with the seekers.

Ignoring the urge to join the medics in the medbay he instead went to the command center and sat in his throne, watching the mechs on duty.

But his thoughts kept wandering to the sight of Starscreams optics only glowing with a faintly red color, the only sign that the seeker was online.

In the medbay Hook and the rest of the gestalt was hooking the seekers to several life sustaining equipment’s to keep their sparks from fading further before they found the reason for the spark energy to seep from the frames. Hook had never seen such a case before, and the perfectionist was deeply frustrated when he didn’t get any results from any scan he put the two seekers through. At last he had to accept the cause as a sort of withdrawal and guessed it had something to do with the trine as a whole and the missing trinemate.

When Megatron later contacted him for any updates, Hook was troubled with how he should explain the fact that he didn’t know how to heal the seekers. The damage had nothing to do with physical injuries.

o o o

Sometime later:

Jazz, Mirage and Hound was once again on a visit to the enemy base. This time the three autobots sensed a radical change in the environment. Where they before had to be careful to not be discovered by mechs walking the corridors at random, they were now greeted by almost completely empty space. The sign of life only heard as faint murmuring behind the doors to the various quarters.

Splitting up Jazz decided to prowl the corridors, listening in on the talk behind the doors as Hound went for the medbay and Mirage tried to see if he could sneak into the command center to gather any information from the command staff.

It was not usual for the decepticons to be this silent.

Something was wrong.

Going to the location of the command trines quarters Jazz found that no sound came from the room behind the door, and that confused him, usually he would have heard Starscream admonish his trinemates or screech on about the unfairness of Megatron, but now there were only silence.

Daring to open the door, he hacked the keypad, and the door opened.

Revealed to the saboteur was a dark room with three berths. Two to one side placed together and one to the other. A few shelves hung at the walls and off to the side a computer console was placed, the screen black. It was turned completely off. It was like the room had not been occupied for some time.

Leaving the room, closing the door he carried on to one of the doors that soundly showed life was behind it.

Whispers of several voices greeted Jazz as he let the small listening device connect with the door, enhancing the sound for the autobot to hear.

“…ever knew I would say this…too silent now…” he heard a broken murmured voice say, some of the words too hard to hear.

“and …tron is affected too… did you see how he acted last raid? …spirit.” Another voiced as the other silenced. The saboteur could hear the others agree.

Frowning Jazz turned away from the door to gather more information. If Megatron was affected too, what was going on?

Another location in the Nemesis Hound had reached the medbay and had dared to open the door disguised as the tyrant. For once he dared to make that move, with Mirage informing him that the real Megatron was still in the command center.

Greeting the hologram of the leader, Hook nodded to the autobot as he entered the bay.

“Sir, the condition has not changed. I have told you that I will tell you if it does. You don’t have to come by every orn.” The medic sighed. The fact that Starscream and Skywarp still lay prone on the berths connected to the monitors, with no change after weeks began to grit on the medic’s pride.

Puzzled Hound held the control of the hologram as he contemplated what the decepticon had said. It sure required further investigation.

“Show me.” Hound voiced, hoping that the medic bought the concern in his voice. It seemed Megatron cared somewhat for whatever had happened.

Nodding Hook led the disguised autobot further into the medbay, entering an antechamber to the larger part of the medbay.

The room he was led into was dark, only dimly lit by the active monitors blipping now and then.

Being no medic Hound didn’t know what they showed, but from knowledge he knew that when this many monitors were active, it meant something bad.

When Hook turned on the light Hound was speechless.

The dull frames of Starscream and Skywarp lay prone before him, tubes, wires and energon lines connected to their chest. What the frag? The autobot cursed inwardly.

So this was why they had seen nothing to the command trine the last few raids. Speculations had been voiced when the seekers failed the second time to show up on the battlefield. The twins had been quite disappointed. The coneheads were after all no match to the two frontliners.

Activating his recorder he studied the frames closely to get as much information from the frames and monitors for Ratchet and the scientist at the Ark to figure out what was going on. It was strange what was happening with the seekers.

First with Thundercracker leaving.

Then the rest of the command trine missing for later to be found connected to life-support.

The record done, he nodded to the medic and left the medbay to join up with Jazz.

Mirage almost didn’t need his invisibility as he walked in the direction of the command center, the spy had not met anyone on his way, and that troubled his processor. Why was the decepticons so silent?

Reaching the entrance to the command center he was greeted by open doors. Huh? That had never happened to him before. Shrugging he entered the room.

There at the throne was Megatron as usual. So something seemed to be as it should.

Beside him Soundwave watched the few decepticons on duty, the telepath now and then glancing at the tyrant.

One of the decepticons at a console turned to regard the TIC with a report, handing the datapad with shaking servos.

Reading the content the telepath returned to the throne and told the content of the report to the seemingly disinterested looking warlord.

It seemed they still tried to locate Thundercracker, but still was without success.

At the bad news the black servos clamped forcefully on the armrests of the throne, leaving dents in the hard metal.

So the warlord was concerned after all Mirage guessed, wondering what had the tyrant agitated this much. As far as they had gathered on Thundercracker the blue seeker was not much for the Cause, and mainly stayed to be together with his trinemates. But what had caused the blue seeker to leave the raid those many weeks ago and not come back after this long time, still evaded the ‘bots in their search.

At the Ark Prowl had had no luck with scanning for the seekers signals, and all they had gotten from the decepticons during their spying had not revealed anything new. Sure they had learned that the blue seeker had a tendency to leave for a short amount of time to be alone, but always returned shortly after and if not Skywarp had always been successful in coaxing the blue seeker to come back when the teleporter had tracked down his friend.

Deciding that he would get no more out of the decepticon commander Mirage left the command center and went to join with his two team mates.

Somehow they would piece together the mystery and solve it.

It was what they did, what they were good at.

As the three ‘bots left the Nemesis no one noticed the unauthorized use of the lift.

o o o

Africa:

Thundercracker was slowly going crazy being alone for this long amount of time.

The healing of the vocord-disrupter took longer than he had anticipated, and the need for him to be together with his trinemates grew for every day he was away from the base.

As the time went from weeks to a month to two it seemed that the damage finally was in the last stage of the healing.

His resources of energon had run out after the first month and he had had to scavenge human settlements for impure energy sources. That had halted the healing even more, with the impurities clogging his lines and taking precedence in the repairing of the damaged device connected to his vocalizer.

At the moment his wings were itching awfully.

He had been out on a short flight, but the feel of the air had not soothed the itching and the temptation to scratch the delicate armor grew and grew.  
However he didn’t do it, the rifts and wounds would just weaken his reserves more than he needed at the moment.

Cursing he imagined how Starscream might nuzzle the itches away, and if the air commander didn’t he was sure that Skywarp would. At the thought of his trinemates his spark made an awkward twitch in its chamber and Thundercracker whimpered at the sensation.

He missed Starscream. Even the tricolored seekers voice would be soothing to his audio after this long time of separation. And Skywarps pranks would be a welcome activity.

Again he couldn’t stop thinking about how they had it at the moment. He could picture Skywarp smiling while he nuzzled against Starscream in his recharge. Skywarp had never been one liking to recharge alone and Thundercracker had accepted his needs and at some point it had just become normal for the two to recharge together.

That was one of the things he greatly missed; feeling another frame against his own.

Instead he was alone in a cave far away from the two decepticons that mattered the most to him, AND his wings still pained him.

Finally having had enough, the blue seeker went to the opening of the cave and studied the surroundings.

Not noticing anything suspicious he left, transformed and flew off in the distance, he knew what to do.

o o o

The Ark:

An alert roused Prowl from where he was reading a datapad awaiting anything from Teletran on the search of Thundercracker.

To his surprise it was not Teletran that had alerted him, but Skyspy.

The satellite offered him a grained picture from somewhere in Africa it looked like.

The picture was of a lake on the continent, and the tactician could not see what had alerted the satellite, but then he studied the picture closer and could see a figure against the blue of the lake.

A blue figure.

Enlarging the picture he was greeted by the sight of the blue decepticon bathing in the lake? 

Prowl’s battle computer almost crashed at the fact presented to him.

Shaking the strangeness away he took the picture and went to find Prime, they had a location.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler alert in the end notes, dont read them before you have read the chapter!!

Ever found yourself in a peculiar situation?

Starscream sure felt that at the moment, covered in a darkness that enveloped him completely.

The last thing he remembered was that agonizing feel from his spark and then everything had turned dizzy, the floor coming at him. Beside him he heard a heavy thud and somehow knew that Skywarp had fallen to the floor like he was. Then everything had blurred and they had lain there on the floor of their quarters paralyzed. How long time had gone, he didn’t know, his systems had completely stalled, only the most essential functions had remained at that point.

Then the darkness had come creeping and before he was completely lost to the blackness he saw a figure crouching by his side, blurring grey coloration filling his optics.

At the moment he was floating in the darkness not knowing how long time had passed since he had entered the darkness.

At the beginning he had yelled out into the darkness for anyone to respond, only to receive a faint echo of his own voice returning to him. Not knowing what was going on kept him yelling for some time, until the futility finally registered, and he stopped.

Instead he had buried himself in his mind. There was not much else to do. He had no sensations in this place; his frame was completely numb, like he wasn’t connected to it anymore, the same with his spark. The pain had left at a point to be swapped with an agonizing numbness. He had never thought that numbness could feel this painful. The only thing remaining to reassure that he still had a frame and a spark was his sight. Even in the darkness he was able to see his whole frame, which made the place, wherever he was even stranger.

Then he was jolted from his mind by a searing light.

The light was no more than a small speck, but in the darkness it enlightened the place like a sun.

As it a moment later disappeared he felt a panic rise in him.

That light had been the only change that he felt had happened for some time, while he had been there. To see it disappear again almost made him scream.

Then it was there again, this time a bit larger than before.

Covering his optics with his servo he tried to get to the light, attempting to engage his thrusters. But of course they would not do as he wanted.

And he watched the light leave once more.

Franticly trying to get to the location he guessed that the light would appear in the darkness he pushed his frame to move. It was hard in the darkness without any hard surface to get any leverage from and he wasn’t able to feel if he was moving at all.

Time went by, and the light didn’t appear again.

At the edge of giving up and fade into the darkness once more he slumped in on himself as the light kept from appearing again.

Then as his spark was almost giving up completely, he felt a gentle servo on his arm in the darkness.

The unfamiliar appendage jolted him from his misery and he jostled at the unknown being that held him, fear filling him spark.

Who was there with him?

Then the servo seemed to move forward in the darkness taking him with it, and there before him the light reappeared.

Trying to see who was guiding him he saw nothing. There was no visibly servo holding him, still he felt the digits caress his plating.

The fear kept filling him, but as the light came closer and closer calmness settled in his frame. Finally he decided that no matter what was doing this it didn’t matter, as long as he reached the light.

Then with a burning bright light he was through the light.

The light blinded him completely, making him unable to see or sense anything from his surroundings.

The servo had left him the moment he got through the light leaving him alone.

Once more he was being jolted as a voice greeted him in the light. He could vaguely see a figure some distance from him, his optics not yet adjusted completely to the light.

“Oh. I forgot from where I summoned you. I apologize Starscream.” A light voice told him.

Then a moment later the light was reduced to a dimness that no longer hurt his optics.

Removing the protective servo from his optics he saw the figure before him.

It was a seeker.

And it was a femme, which was clear by the delicate frame.

“Who are you?” he asked stunned by the sight of her.

“Who I am does not matter at the moment.” She smiled while her blue optics glinted with mirth.

“Then where am I?” he asked.

At that she spread her arms and he found himself in a well-known location.

Vos.

A window covered one of the walls completely, showing the thriving city with countless seekers flying around. To the other side an arching doorway in the blue color of the royal tower showed.  
He took the sight greeting him to spark, enjoying the sight of so many seekers. He had not seen so many in a million of years.

Turning to face the femme again he is now able to see her coloration: white and green.

“No!” he utters shocked.

“Yes! It is me my Star.” Lightningstrike says.

“I’m dead?” he asks looking around again.

“No.” she answers with softness in the voice.

“I have something I need you to do my Star.” She continues as he returns his optics to her at her denial.

Then she flicks one of her servos and uncovers a silver-looking device.

“I need you to remember. You need to hurry my dear.”

“That is-. Is it?” he asks puzzled.

“Yes.” She replies with a smile.

Seriousness bleeds into his face. He knows what she is implying. He doesn’t like it, but he will do as she bids him.

“How do I return?” uneasiness growing in his spark, he sure didn’t want to return to the darkness.

Another flick of a servo and another door is revealed to him.

“When you enter through the door you will be back into your frame and mind, healed for an amount of time. You need to get your task done within a limited time, or you return to the darkness. There is no more I can do at the moment.” She apologizes.

He nods at her warning and steps forward.

As he passes through the door he is back into darkness.

First he thinks he is back into the darkness, but then sounds registers. Alarms are blaring around him.

As Hook enters the antechamber alerted by the alarms he finds the Air commander sitting upright in the berth a silver-looking device held in his hands.

The device had been inside his subspace all those millions of years since her death. He had completely forgotten the special gift he had given her some time before her death.

It was a device to localize her when the counterpart was activated. The part that had been given to Lightningstrike would shield her from trackers and others looking for her, if she ever found herself in troubles and without immediate help. After all flight was dangerous and malfunctions could happen. Should that be she could be safe carrying the scrambler on her. The only thing that would be able to find her was the part that Starscream held.

She had never gotten to use the device. She had died in a fatal crash not surviving the impact with the ground. At the thought he could not avoid the lone tear trailing his chin.

Shaking the sadness from his mind he rose from the berth, only faintly registering Hook’s complaints and orders for him to return to the berth.

He didn’t listen. He severed the connections to the monitors activating even more alarms.

Ignoring the sounds he stalked towards the door and entered the medbay. Scrapper was there with Mixmaster, and the two stared at him for a klik before Hook following the seeker ordered them to help him restrain him.  
Then the three constructicons had moved in on the lone seeker.

Breems later Starscream left the Nemesis and activated the localizer. Africa the device informed him, and adjusting his direction he speed up to full speed.

After all Lightningstrike had said to hurry.

Whatever he was to do at the location he was led to must be important. He didn’t think much of what he was getting himself into. He followed the leads on instinct.

Back at the Nemesis Hook finally managed to get a hold of Bonecrusher to free the trapped medics from the berth the seeker had restrained them on. It was embarrassing to the three to admit that one lone seeker had been able to subdue them, but something had been odd with Starscream.

The seeker had been stronger than he should be, and had for once gone directly into the fight that had occurred without any warning.

The seeker had simply seen the three as a threat to whatever he was to do, and new protocols had activated enabling the seeker to do what needed to be done.

o o o

Meanwhile Sideswipe and Sunstreaker is on their way to the location of Thundercracker.

It had taken the autobots some time to find the specific hiding spot of the decepticon.

The seeker had stayed at the lake for some time, enough so that the satellite moved out of distance to keep further track of the seeker. The next time Skyspy had passed the location the seeker had been gone.

It had caused some tedious work for the ones on duty to get any indication of the seeker the next few days. But finally the blue seeker had emerged at the perfect time. Once again Skyspy had registered the seeker, and this time in a location with several large caves.

It would be the perfect hiding spot for a decepticon. It even was far from any human settlements and that strengthened their faith in that Thundercracker would be hiding there.

The twins had been engaged since the two troublemakers was skilled in handling the seekers and able to subdue Thundercracker if he made a run for it.  
Hours later the twins arrived not far from the location they expected the seeker to hide at.

“We are here.” Sideswipe reported back to the Ark.

“You are free to engage whenever you wish Sideswipe, but remember we want him whole. I don’t need to remind you that Ratchet will be greatly displeased if he has to go there to scrap him back together?” Prowl warns.

“No, Prowl.” The red twin replies sending Sunstreaker a toothy grin.

“We understand.” Sunstreaker growls to let the tactician know that he understands.

“You are good to go. Good luck.” With that Prowl closes the feed and the twins are left to do their duty.

“Come Sunny, let’s go catch a seeker.” Sideswipe grins as he transforms back into vehicle mode.

Growling at the nickname the golden twin follows his brother, transforming and revving his engine in anticipation.

Inside he is filled with the excitement of the mission, but he still doesn’t like the environment that does awful things to his finish. The dust is everywhere and the dirty soil creeps into every opening of his frame.

Shortly after their leave, they are greeted by the sight of stacks of demolished rocks littering a large area.

The rocks are large, and show no sign of human handling.

It seemed they were on the right track. In the distance the mountains that were their destination could be seen stretching far into the air.

Thundercracker might have attempted to remove any sign of him being in the area by moving the debris from the cave this far away, but the autobots knew that he was there. The twins not deterred carried on moving towards the mountains.

o o o

Thundercracker groaned.

The bath in the lake some days prior had done some good to his frame, but now his wings had begun to itch again.

The vocord-disrupter would only need little more time to heal. If he was lucky he would be returning to the base within the day. And it was on time. He had been gone far too long.

He feared what he would be returning to. He knew that Megatron would punish him for his leave. But if it was the only thing happening he would take his punishment like a mech. He just hoped that the cover wasn’t blown, or more than punishment would be awaiting him.

Shaking his head he gathered the canister placed off to the side. The crude oil it contained had been the only fuel that he had been able to find the last time he had scavenged for fuel. The taste was simply so awful that he had to suppress his urge to purge the whole substance from his systems when he had filled his churning tank. Only strength of will kept him from emptying the tank.

Disturbed in his misery he heard car wheels screech outside the cave.

‘What?’ he thought.

Silently moving towards the entrance he dared a glance outside.

When he did he wished he hadn’t. Those damned twins!

Fear swelled in his spark. And once again he found himself uttering the words he had said at the raid those many weeks ago.

‘Frag it! Why? Why now? After all this time, why right now?’

He was practically healed and ready to return to his friends, and of course his enemy then would turn up, making a mess of it all.

Retreating further into the cave, well aware that he only let himself get restrained in the confined room he had made inside the mountain he cursed the red and golden twins in several languages.

A moment later the entrance was darkened by two frames, shutting out the suns light into the cave.

“It is definitely large enough for his wings.” He heard one of them say from the entrance. Backing away he soon felt the wall of the back of the cave against his wings.

The thud the wings made as they connected with the wall silenced the autobots in their talk, and he cursed himself for making it known that he was THERE.

A moment later one of them had made his way inside the place and was soon followed by his twin.

“So this is where you have been all this time.” One of them mused as he walked further into the cave.

Thundercracker still covered by the darkness of their frames felt his spark almost stop spinning in his chest. ‘How the pit was he going to get out of this?’

It didn’t seem like the twins was busy. They walked around seemingly studying the cave like it was a large mystery to them.

As they slowly advanced in on his location he felt the claustrophobia rear its ugly head in his mind. He was trapped in closed confines, a large mountain above him, and enemies closing in on him. His instincts screamed at him to get away, but he had no escape.

As one of them came close enough that he could reach out and touch the others plating he could not hold back the faint whimper escaping his vocalizer.

A klik later his wings was restrained against the wall, the weight of the frontliner firmly holding him there.

“Gotcha.” He heard the voice of what turned out to Sunstreaker say into his audio.

At that Sideswipe came up close too and let a light shine over his frame.

He could see the evil smiles on their faces as his own showed the fear that his spark felt.

o o o

Starscream was traveling as fast as he could to his destination, his frame heating from the force he put his systems under as he closed in on the continent of Africa.

Something kept urging him to push his systems more and more to make it in time.

As he reached the landmasses of the continent he looked at the localizer again and found that his final destination was a bit into the country, not far away from where he had reached the land.

However a jolt caused him to not waste a klik returning to reach his goal as fast as possible, something bad was happening. He knew it in his spark.

Breems later he watched a mountain stretch in the distance.

The source of the signal was inside it.

As he closed in on the mountain he saw the telltale of tracks from cars in the dust outside a fairly large cave entrance.

Landing as silent as possible he walked to the entrance, but stopped not far from it when he heard voices come from the cave entrance.

He easily recognized the sound of the twins, but could not recognize the third one.

Keeping silent he listened in on their talk, the urgency in his spark faded somewhat now that he was there.

“Let go of me.” The light screechy voice of the third said, only to be followed by laughter from the two other transformers.

“Why should we do that? We are quite curious about what you are doing here. We are here to bring you back to base.” Sunstreaker told.

“I am of no use to you. Let me GO!” the third tried again. This time the voice wavered from the high-pitched screech to that of a baritone and back again.

It confused the air commander. Who was that with them?

“I will let Prowl decide that. He had some interesting questions to ask you.” Sideswipe grinned. “We are just the fetchers.” He continued.

“They-They will find me, punish you for taking me. Starscream and Skywarp are going to scrap you.” The now completely baritone voice told.

“Oh. I don’t think that will happen. After all they are dead.” Sunstreaker leered at the seeker.

“WHAT?” the now fully restored voice of Thundercracker voiced incredulous.

“Yeah. We scrapped them in a raid, and since we have seen nothing of them. Hound reported that they are as good as deactivated, lying in a coma induced stasis. Not going to wake up from that.” Sideswipe told voice completely uncaring.

“No. No. No. Not true. Can’t be.” Thundercracker says as he collapses to the floor, the twins letting go of his wings finally.

“Oh yes. WE scrapped them completely. Actually your fault by not being there, if Ratchet is right.” The grin returned on the red frontliners face.

Unseen energon tears formed in the seekers optics. He had failed. His worst nightmares coming true.

Then a light jolted the blue seeker out of his depressed state as the sound of weapons firing entered the cave. The two frames before him fell to the ground unmoving.

At the entrance was the form of a seeker.

“I thought we had heard enough of them blabbing.” Starscream explained to the stunned blue seeker.

The instant Thundercrackers vocord-disrupter had healed Starscream had recognized the voice of his trinemate, and as he heard the twins mock the other with his trinemates fate he had gotten more and more angry. Finally he had had enough.

Now he watched the slumped frame of his missing trinemate for the first time in months.

Thundercracker looked bad.

As Starscream walked to the blue seeker he didn’t care that he stepped on the prone frames of the autobots, the two menaces had done plenty of damage to the seekers during the raids.

He smiled reassuring to his trinemate as he came close enough to touch the dulled wings.

But when he touched the plating a jolt spread from Thundercracker to his trineleader and coursed through the air commander before settling in the seekers spark. Suddenly reenergized Starscream knew what had caused Skywarp and him to fade like they had back at the base.

“You! Who ARE you?!” he exclaims as he takes some steps away.

“A fragging guardian bond. For frag sake Thundercracker how could you do it?!” he concludes a moment later, voice less high-pitched.

Once more he asks the blue seeker “Who ARE you?!”

“I- I didn’t intend to. But it just happened. Please Starscream, don’t be angry.” Thundercracker tried to mend.

“You should have TOLD us. And how are you even able to do that? Guardian bonds are rare and can only be done by certain transformers.” Starscream countered, the mystery flooding his mind.

A guardian bond was a special bond forged by transformers of importance in the time long before the war. At the beginning of the war, those able to form those were almost nonexistent.

The bond worked by forging the essence of the protected and the guard/s, causing the protected to sustain on the guardians’ spark energy if they became separated for a longer time.

That was why Starscream and Skywarp had collapsed into stasis weeks after Thundercracker left. Only when Starscream touched Thundercracker did the energy return to his systems, stabilizing the spark of the guard and reenergizing his systems.

“No more stalling, Thundercracker! Who. Are. You.” The air commander demanded.

“I-.” uneasiness filled his voice. Then seriousness entered his face and he rose from his place on the floor. Standing Thundercracker reached fairly above the other, but the air around the smaller seeker exulted superiority enough that no one would have noticed the difference.

“Merge with me?” Thundercracker asked, the question sounding more like a plea.

“What? Why?” Starscream studied the blue seeker before him that he felt became more and more like a stranger to him. He wanted to merge? They had never done that before.

“It is the only way I can explain.” Thundercracker pleaded. Starscream would never believe him any other way.

Wary of the intent of the blue seeker he relented and nodded in agreement.

“Fine.” He voiced looking as Thundercracker freely bared his spark to him.

Seeing the blue seekers spark for the first time fascinated Starscream in a way that made him uncomfortable. What was it with him?

Shaking his head Starscream released the locks on his own chestplates and bared his own sparkchamber to the other. As the transparent protection slid aside Starscream looked deeply into Thundercrackers optics, trying to gauge any ill intent in the other.

He saw no one.

Stepping closer to the blue seeker he lets their essences connect.

For only a few kliks later to jolt from the connection and disconnecting their sparks.

What he had seen in the other was impossible.

The sight that Thundercracker had showed him was not possible. It could not be.

“Impossible!” he almost yells. “She is dead!” he continues.

“No, Starscream. She did not die.” Thundercracker calmly says.

“What? How? Why?” Starscream asks confused.  
“Her existence had been revealed, putting her in a great danger from transformers outside Vos. The Winglord orchestrated her death to protect her.” The blue seeker explained.

“Then she is-. She is not dead?” Starscream stares at the other unbelieving. He had seen her destroyed frame.

“No.” Thundercracker confirm smiling.

“But how?” he was still not able to phantom that the femme could be alive.

“You did indeed see her frame crushed. But that was only her frame, and not her spark. She was transferred into a new frame to hide her among trusted people.”

As the puzzle connected Starscream once more found himself starring at the blue seeker.  
‘It could not be…’

“Then you, you’re-…?” he asks unable to finish the question.

“Yes.” The blue seeker nods.

o o o

As the two seekers talk, the frames of the frontliners are all forgotten. The effect of Starscreams shots is slowly wearing off and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker is able to hear what the two seekers talk about.

Optics locking Sideswipe sees his own shock in Sunstreakers.

::A femme?:: the red frontliner communicate through their bond.

::Never had imagined that.:: Sunstreaker replies.

::This is HUGE. A femme, here, on Earth.:: Sideswipe contemplates.

Even if they didn’t manage to capture the blue seeker, they sure had important news for their superiors. That was, if they made it out of the cave alive. They were still paralyzed by the nullrays and it would take time for the effect to wear away, during that time they would be at the mercy of the two seekers.

Luckily for the frontliners it seemed that Starscream for once had more important this to do that kill autobots.

o o o

As the facts had sunken in Starscream had given Thundercracker a closer look and had discovered the little device connected to the vocalizer. How had he never seen that one before?

“I guess that-“pointing at the vocord-disrupter “is the reason for you to leave?” he asks.

“Yes. Lucky shot damaged it heavily.” She confirms to her trineleader.

“Hmm. Okay. You know it hurt that you didn’t trust us enough with this.” The air commander looks at his trinemate, the hurt obvious in the red optics.

“Well, it isn’t you. It is ‘Warp. I don’t know what he will do or say.” At that Thundercracker isn’t able to meet the others optics. She fears that Starscream will make her come completely clean.  
“He doesn’t have to know right now.” Starscream calms her fear. “But he need to when the time is right for it.”

“Now, let’s get back to base. You still need to release Skywarp from his stasis.” Starscream says as he motion for her to get to the entrance.

“Yes Sir.” Thundercracker smiles relieved for the first time in a long time.

As the blue seeker leaves the cave Starscream turns to the two autobots at his thrusters.

“What am I going to do with you two?” he asks them. Of course they are unable to answer and he just leaves them to their own misery going after his trinemate.

As he leaves the cave he is reminded of his new duty, as his guardian protocols emerge into his conscious mind.

Groaning he decides to give Thundercracker a firm punishment for all that she has put him and Skywarp through.

Thundercracker might be his superior, being the last survivor of the Winglords family unit, but she had no rank in the decepticon army.

Transforming he follows the distant frame of his charge back to the decepticon headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N The situation with Lightningstrike in the coma is inspired by thinking that the unknown guardian bond is wakening Starscream to protect her. It isnt Thundercracker/Lightningstrike that is contacting him, but his own mind that is sending him on the mission to protect his charge.
> 
> Just to your information, this is NOT the last chapter.
> 
> In the future chapters i might refere to Thundercracker as both an he and a she. The she is ALWAYS Thundercracker/Lightningstrike. there is no other femme in the story. when i use he i will make it clear that it is Thundercracker/lightningstrike i refere to. after all only Starscream and the twins and maybe the rest of the autobots know of Thundercracker being a femme.
> 
> Please review.:)


	6. Chapter 6

Nemesis:

Starscream was proud. Really and truly proud, and for once it had little with him to do. The flight back to base had revealed Thundercrackers true potential in flight, now that she didn’t have to act like the armor she was wearing weighted more than it actually did.

He was impressed with her skills, and knew that his mark as being the fastest seeker sparked no longer held, he had for fragging sake had to engage his thrusters fully to keep up with the femme, and still he had had to eat her exhaust air.

To think that it was him that had teached his trinemate all those many vorns ago to fly as she did now and always had flown under his guidance was a bit strange.

How did Thundercracker end up in his trine? Why had she sought him out? And why had she never revealed the truth? He had after all had some deep conversations with Thundercracker over the time under Megatron’s leadership, not a few regarding herself. And Thundercracker had known of the haunting dreams he continued to have, all about her.

Thinking about it made him frown.

He would need to hear her story. How she ended with not being death, and how her life had turned out.

As they landed on the flight he turned to her to stop her from advance into the base.

“We need to talk before we go and wake Skywarp.” He told her.

Canting her head she looked curiously at him, waiting for him to continue.

“I need to know what happened when you “died”. And if we go to Skywarp Megatron will be alerted to us both being back. I need to hear you in private.” He explained as he slowly began to walk further into the base, careful to watch out for anyone that might go and tell on them.

Thundercracker just followed, movements returned to the way the mechs walked, with their larger and heavier bulk. She had perfected her disguise as a mech to perfection, and it told a lot of her skills that only an unfortunate event was what revealed her to her trineleader. Everyone was still in the dark about Thundercracker’s true identity.

Safely behind the door to the trines quarters they both relaxed.

As Starscream went to his single berth she went to the combined berths of her and Skywarps.

Again Starscream got a strange image; Thundercracker hugging Skywarp in recharge or the other way around, the teleporter clinging to the blue seeker. Now that he knew of her secret it all seemed so wrong. And if the teleporter hadn’t been her second guard Starscream would have exiled Skywarp from the quarters for that alone. With the knowledge that Skywarp rather would deactivate than harm her it eased his uneasiness at how close the two always had been, and still would be. They needed to keep up the usual façade, no matter how strange some of their usual interaction now would be.

When interfacing for instance.

How they hadn’t ended up sparking her he didn’t know. Something else he needed to ask her about.

Then he remembered.

Thundercracker had always denied them access to the valve, claiming to be a spike mech.

Dragging him out of his rather undignified thoughts Thundercracker slammed one of her thrusters into his shin.

Okay, right, those thoughts could wait.

“You wanted to talk, remember?” she asked, a slight fire burning in the red optics.

“Yes. You are right. I just-.” He apologized.

She interrupted him with an evil smile “You just realized how much this is going to change everything? Listen Starscream, I might be your little darling Thundercracker when we are with others, but when we are alone like now, don’t expect me to act like him. I know very well where we stand together. I AM your Winglady while we are alone, and you get to be my superior when together with the others.” she finished harshly.

He just nodded. Stunned at the way Thundercrackers voice could admonish him that easily.

“As long as Skywarp don’t know anything, I will be playing nice when he is there. But don’t expect me to roll over and accept everything you toss my way.”

“Very well Lightningstrike.” He answered. He understood her. She had hid herself all these vorns and now for the first time had a chance at being herself some of the time.

At the name he was rewarded with a blinding smile.

“Thank you.” She voiced before she leaned back and relaxed again.

“So, what happened back then? Why did you have to disappear so completely?” he asked.

He watched her optics turn distant a moment before she began to tell her story.

-Flash back-  
“Lightningstrike!” she heard someone yell from behind. Turning she saw one of her special assigned caretakers run to her.

The little femme had a tendency to go into areas of the tower where she should not be, and it was a hard job for her caretakers to keep track of her when she decided that she wanted to go somewhere where she was not allowed.

This orn she wanted to surprise her creator in his work and had made her way towards the throne room. The rest of her family unit was there at the moment, having audience with mechs from outside the city state. She was the only one not allowed to attend, and it left her feeling lonely.

Instead of waiting for her caretaker to catch up to her, she ran towards the large beautiful doors that led into the throne room. As she came closer she could hear the voices behind the door. Then a moment later the doors swooshed open by themselves and she was let entry into the most forbidden area of the whole tower.

As she crossed the threshold into the room she stopped in stunned awe.

So many mechs!

Countless rows upon rows of chairs were placed in lines before the podium on which the three thrones were placed. In the middle she could see her creator sit while to the left and right her carrier and oldest brother were sitting.

The commotion at the door, as her caretaker caught up to her drew some of the attention from the mech sitting closest to the doors. As they saw her she saw their stunned expressions and like a fire more and more turned to see what had the others so enthralled. Soon she had the attention of the whole room.

Suddenly she felt that the initial idea hadn’t been so wise after all, and she tried to hide behind the thrusters of her caretaker. The old seeker apologized into the room before she led the little femme away.

Lightningstrike didn’t see the tears forming in the optics of her carrier as she was led away.

A few orns later her creator came to her rooms and talked to her. He was visibly distraught and she sensed great sorrow and fear in his optics.

He had explained that they needed to send her away, to protect her, to keep her safe.

She didn’t understand, wasn’t she safe with them? All the guards around the tower surely would be enough.

But her creator hadn’t listened to her; he had just hugged her close and just stayed like that, with her in his arms for a long time.

Then seekers that she had never seen before had come into her room, and her creator had released her. The unknown seekers had been white in color and smelled strange.

From the brief conversation her creator had had with them she understood that she would have to go through an operation. She thought it silly, operations were only done if you were damaged and she was completely whole. To be sure she had glanced down herself and had been satisfied with her shining white and green coloration.

But still her creator had handed her to the strangers and when they began to leave with her, fear gripped her spark and she reached for her creator. When the Winglord just stood there and looked while she was carried further and further away tears had begun to pool in her optics and she had wailed for her creator.

The last sight of her creator was with optics shining with tears, then they had turned a corner and she was lead out of the tower.

She had never seen any of her family unit since.  
-End flash back-  
“I was lead to a medical ward where they gave me a new frame and new colors while disguising the fact that I was a femme and a seeker. My wings were not fully developed as you know, so it was possible for them to hide them in the frame of a praxian.” She explained as she finished the explanation.

“That must have been awful!” Starscream exclaimed in horror.

“Not as bad as you might think. After all I didn’t fly much beyond the lessons you gave me at the time. And my adopted creators were nice. They of course knew of my origination. Close friends of my true creators, they had willingly agreed to shield and protect me. So I left Vos to live in Praxus.”

“How did you avoid the slaughter of the city when the war started?” Starscream asked, curious. He had been there during the massacre and the thought of Lightningstrike in the warzone as a victim, he shuddered. What if he had killed her himself then?

She reached a calming servo towards him, reading his mind, and seeing the horror in his face at the fact.

“I wasn’t there at that time Star. I was gone long before. When Vos was leveled my adopted creators decided to send me away to a neutral settlement. They feared for my life, and they were right. Sadly they were not able to follow me so I was left on my own.” She continued.

“Unfortunately I had almost outgrown my disguise then, and needed a new.” Once again her optics grew distant and Starscream waited for her to continue.

-Flash back-  
Pain. Extreme and agonizing pain filled her frame originating from her spark. The spark flared once more, and she could see the energy cackling along her frame, sizzling and burning now and then. The spark too large for her current frame tried to expel the excess energy to avoid her intimate inner parts melting from the heat.

She whimpered as she tried to rise from her position on the berth. If she could get out of the door everything would be okay.

The room she lived in was placed in a large building housing several mechs, each with their own reason to be in the settlement, each fleeing the war.

If she could make it outside someone would find her and help her.

But first she needed to get there.

And her frame worked against her.

The pain increased as she pushed her motor functions to obey and move, but she kept going and forced the warnings back from her vision. She needed to get out or she knew she would die.

A searing pain traveled up her backstrut and she collapsed back on the berth, heaving air heavily.

As she was about to give up and give in to the pain a voice came to her.

“Come on Lightstrike, you can do better than that.” It taunted. She almost cried hearing her nickname.

“St-Starscream?” she asked the voice.

“Who else!” it huffed feigning the annoyance she had known so well. At that she was sure; it definitely was her long dead flight teacher.

At that she could not avoid the single tear trailing down. She had never felt freer than when she had flown with the tricolored seeker. She had loved everything about the seeker, even his voice, scratchy as it was.

Of course now she knew it was silly feelings from a youngling towards an adult that saw everything different, but the freedom he had given her was something she had cherished in her cage that was the royal tower.

“Now, get up!” the voice ordered. Starscream had never been one to talk much and had expected to be obeyed, which was why, when she heard the tone her self-pity faded to nothing and she took some of the stubbornness the voice offered and began to rise from the berth once more.

With the comforting remark now and then she managed to get as far as into sitting position and when she was that far, the rest went quite easily.

As she stumbled towards the door the voice still followed her, mostly admonishing her for her weakness. It would seem harsh to get such remarks in her state, but they fuelled her will to show that she was more than he said, that she could and would make it, that she was stronger than he thought she was.

Finally as her servo connected with the door the voice stopped and as she stumbled out into the corridor her energy finally left her, but then she no more needed it, she could hear the others hurrying towards her, the trembling of the floor as she hit the ground and only managed to keep her optics open shortly, smiling at the fact that she made it. She had shown him that she could.  
-End flash back-

“I was led to the medical bay that the settlement luckily had, and then I had some confessions to make. After all I could not keep the secret to the ones that was about to make a new frame for me and transfer me to it.” She continued.

“And I needed a capable frame that fit my origin. That was some of a shock to the three medics that worked there. They had not known of my gender or true frame type and I had then lived in the settlement for several vorns. So they began the work of gathering information on seeker frames and femmes.”

“When they were ready to transfer me into the new frame, they revealed a surprise. Instead of just a femme seeker frame, they had manufactured an outer shell that took on the look of a mech. They became my new protectors by doing that unselfish gesture. I would be able to move around without any danger, but still be able to revert into my true frame if I wanted to do so by simply retract the outer shell.” She told him optics shining with unshed tears.

“I stayed at the settlement for a long period of time after that. I tried to pay back some of the goodness the medics did to me by helping in the medical bay, and they let me. Then one orn a messenger came to the settlement. It changed everything for me.”

“He told that Megatron needed recruits to his army. Not that I had any intention of joining just by that. But when he saw me, he sought me out later. What he told me made me change my mind. He caught my interest with one word out of his long talk of the unfairness of the autobots and the good intentions of the decepticons. When he mentioned Air commander Starscream any thought of declining vanished. I was given a little part of my old life back and how would I be able to turn my back on that?” she smiled as she talked.

“So that was why you showed up that orn, when Skywarp and I looked for our third to complete the command trine?” Starscream asked. He remembered that time quite clearly. Before that the seekers had only flown solo, but he had decided that they would work more efficient if they went back to the old way, where seekers flew in threes.

-Flash back-  
They had had several seekers showing up and hoping to get the favorable spot in the Air commander’s own trine. No one had stood out from the others and they had both been unsatisfied with the selection of seekers before them. Then a blue seeker had been led in by a soldier, who had dismissed himself as soon as he had led the seeker inside the room.

It turned out that the excuse for the seeker to be late was the fact that he came from a settlement far from the decepticon base, and was a neutral. Starscream had been curious, but Skywarp had commented on the seeker over the trine channel.

::He is too large Scree. Look at how he tower above everyone else. It will make a mess of our flight with such a heavy seeker in the formation. Who knows if he even is able to catch up to us.:: the teleporter had argued.

At the last part the air commander had had to agree, they didn’t know how the other was I the air, but he was willing to give the blue seeker a chance.

It later showed that Thundercracker had had no trouble in keeping up the speed and actually outmaneuvered Skywarp. At that the black and purple seeker had resigned and Thundercracker became their trinemate.  
-End flash back-

“The rest of my story you know Starscream.” Thundercracker concluded.

“You are right. I have never regretted to make you my trinemate. Now I am even happier that I made that decision back then.” The air commander smiled at her.

Seriousness bleeding into his optics he returned to the present.

“Now, let’s go and wake up our third. It is time for us all to be rejoined again.” He finished as he rose from the berth and watched as she herself with an apologizing smile rose.

It was good to be back.


	7. Chapter 7

Nemesis:

Skywarp was happy.

Truly and utterly happy.

With a groan he opened his optics and looked at the seeker currently sucking his spike and hitting every sensory node just the RIGHT way. The sensation in his frame flared and he could not avoid the whimper coming forth at the stimulation to his spike. Starscream knew how to make the whole experience of being sucked that more pleasurable.

His focus left the tricolored seeker at a twinge to his wings; the mech there didn’t want to be left out of his awareness.

And what a welcome sight of blue plating he was greeted with.

Thundercracker was stroking his wings sending tingling sensations into his frame from his highly tuned flight sensors.

Then as Thundercracker closed in on his face and brushed his lips against Skywarps own he felt a jolt coursing through his whole frame and suddenly every sensation in his frame was increased, he could even hear Starscreams joyous moans at the ministrations he did to the spike, and Thundercrackers satisfied rumbling.

He began to squirm in their merciless hold, Thundercracker returning to his wings as Starscream continued his play with the black spike. It was almost too much!

A twinge to his ailerons caused him to elicit a needy moan and he unintently buckled his hips up to meet Starscreams knowing glossa.

This was so good!

How he had missed the three of them being together.

As Starscream did something to his spike that felt too good to be real he groaned.

And he awoke from the dream.

And surprisingly to a new one.

This one still had his trineleader between his legs sucking his spike, but this time Thundercracker just stood smiling by the teleporters side.

Then it all shattered.

“Hello ‘Warp.” Thundercracker greeted.

Between groans Skywarp managed to ask, “Is this real? Are you real?”

It was Starscream stopping and answering him that finally made him understand.  
“Of course Skywarp. Can something like this feel so good if it wasn’t real?” the trineleader had a smirk plastered on his face and before long he returned to the pressurized spike before him.

“But how? What happened?” Oh his head hurt.

“Let’s just say I needed some time to deal with some issues, okay?” Thundercracker explained.

He was greeted with a rare glare from the teleporter.

“Issue my aft. You never just disappear in thin air like you did. Why did you leave us? We were bad off you know.” He accused.

Gesturing to where they still were Thundercracker responded. “I know ‘Warp, and I didn’t intend for it to go this bad. But please just let it be.” With a glance to Starscream he explained “You will understand in time.”

He huffed and tried to look angry at his returning trinemate, but a groan soon left his vocalizer and ruined the effect.

“Fine” he said before he laid back and just enjoyed what Starscream was doing. It had been so long time since last.

Thundercracker send his trinemate a knowing smile.

He and Starscream had entered the antechamber to wake Skywarp.

It should just have been an easy task, but it seemed that it hadn’t been enough to just touch the black and purple seeker, like it had with Starscream. So some ministrations had been made to the prone frame and when Thundercracker got the idea to touch his lips to Skywarps the frame had heated and when the jolt finally had happened it had surprisingly caused the spike cover to release and the spike to pressurize.

First they had just stood there ogling the now only recharging frame of their trinemate, waiting for him to wake up on his own, but the spike had clearly been too much for Starscream.

Thundercracker had to admit that he felt the need to be together too, they had been separated for too long.

So that was why when Skywarp finally woke Starscream was placed between his legs enjoying the black treat while Thundercracker reveled in the sight of his trinemates clearly enjoying each other. He would have to wait for what he wanted from them.

It was truly comical to see the look on the teleporters face when he woke up, and even more when he realized that it was no longer a dream.

That completely innocent look that he could get was something that Thundercracker loved about the black and purple seeker.

Sensing that Skywarp was on the rim of overload Thundercracker reached and twisted the black wingtips just the right way he knew that Skywarp liked.

And sure enough a few kliks later the teleporter with a strangled scream filled Starscreams mouth with his transfluids.

Unfazed the trineleader swallowed the substance and smiled at his trinemates.

“Welcome back, both of you.”

He laughed at the sated look Skywarp had. It seemed he had sucked the last energy out of him, even after the energizing jolt he had received from Thundercracker.

“How do you feel Skywarp?” Starscream asked, tone turning serious.

“I think, I feel… fine.” The teleporter answered after some time checking his systems for any warnings.

“Good. We might better return to our quarters. I got a feeling Megatron soon will know that we are all back and we better enjoy the time we have together before he ruins it.” The trineleader scowled.

What Skywarp didn’t see was the look Starscream and Thundercracker shared while he rose from the berth and removed the restraining tubes, wires and cables from his chest.

Megatron would not be pleased with the blue seeker and what punishment he would decide they didn’t know. Starscream felt fear at the fact. He could just try to make his own punishment for the blue seeker enough for the tyrant to go easy on his trinemate. But he had only little hope.

o o o

Cave in Africa:

Twin sets of groaning could be heard hours after the seekers left the cave.

Finally the paralyzing effect had left their frames and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker was finally able to move out of the undignified position on the floor of the cave.

As they ran a scan to detect any internal damages they both came up clean. That was a first when it came to the two terrors and dealing with the seekers. Sideswipe felt relief at how easy Starscream let them off. But of course the seeker might have scrambled some circuits by the fact that his trinemate during millions of years was and had always been a femme.

Who would have thought, Thundercracker being a femme?

Beside him Sunstreaker growled. A dent was visible on his helm. It seemed they hadn’t survived completely unscarred.

Sideswipe’s comm. went off and when he accepted it he saw the frustrated sight of Prowl.

Oh, this was bad. They should have reported in hours ago, to give a status, but being paralyzed did make that impossible.

“Finally.” The tactician exclaimed exasperated.

“Eh, hello Prowl.” The red frontliner began.

“What happened?” the other asked, halting any further excuses from the twin.  
The base had been in chaos when the twins didn’t report in with their status within the arranged timeframe. Prowl had been patient, knowing how the twins could be, while Redalert instantly spelled doom and wanted them to go to the location to secure the safety of the two. And Ratchet had just silently growled and the meaning was quite clear; they better not have gotten damaged in their eagerness to “play” with the seeker.

As the time went by, Prowl had had fewer and fewer arguments and finally Optimus had decided to go and check on them there, which was why Optimus, Ratchet and Ironhide were on their way to the cave they had identified as the hiding spot for the blue decepticon.

Sideswipe looked sheepishly at the tactician on the comm. while he wondered what he should say and what he should leave out.

Would the others believe them if they told the truth?

How farfetched was it to believe Thundercracker was a femme? He asked himself.

::What should I tell, Sunny?:: he asked the golden twin.

Sunstreaker looked angrily at the red twin. What part of it all wouldn’t be embarrassing?

Being taken by surprise by Starscream?

The fact that a femme. A FEMME! Had been able to keep them from completely scrap Starscream and Skywarp all those times they had practiced their jetjudo on the jets?

Or the fact that Sunstreaker and surely also Sideswipe had spent the time paralyzed to think of the femme, instead of contacting base?

Oh surely all three of them was embarrassing and something that he definitely didn’t want to admit to Prowl. Or any other autobot, decepticon, human and whatever existents lived around the galaxies.

::Just tell him that we failed.:: he growled. The discipline for failing such an easy mission was bearable. The mocking from the others if the facts were to be revealed weren’t.

As Sideswipe began to explain their failure as uneventful as possible, Sunstreaker heard tires screeching outside the cave, and the golden twin warily looked outside for to completely go outside while cursing inwardly.

The cavalry had arrived.

Optimus transformed and looked around at the place missing any sign of battles and when he saw movement he was greeted by the clearly dissatisfied look on Sunstreakers face.

Before Optimus could do or say anything Ratchet was moving at the frontliner, his wrench ready in hand in case he would need it to discipline the mech.

“What happened? Don’t tell me you got him scrapped somewhere!” the medic growled at the golden twin.

To that Sunstreaker just sighed.  
There was one easy way to explain the facts.

“He escaped.” He answered the angry medic.

Not satisfied Ratchet flung the wrench; it firmly collided with the helm, denting the dent there even more. Wincing Sunstreaker rubbed the spot sending the medic an angry glare.

“What happened? And don’t give me ‘He escaped’. You are used to handling the seekers!” the medic growled.

Sunstreaker was saved by the Prime coming up beside the medic and stopped Ratchet in his rant.

The only reason for the medic to be as he was, Optimus knew was because he had worried for the two frontliners. Ratchet saw the two more like his own creations than anyone else in the army. They had taken the twins in, while the two still were younglings and Ratchet had been the one to care for the twins, even having them with him in his quarters at the beginning.

“Let’s leave this to later. Sunstreaker, where is Sideswipe?” Optimus asked, unable to see the red frontliner anywhere.

That had Ratchet silencing, he just now noticed that the red twin was nowhere in sight. He had been completely consumed by his worry to notice that Sideswipe was missing.

Sunstreaker seeing the trepidation growing in the medic hurriedly pointed towards the cave, and a klik later Ratchet was at the opening. How the medic had moved that fast bemused even Optimus.

Ironhide kept wisely in the back, looking out for any enemies in case the decepticons were lurking. Now that the seeker had escaped, Thundercracker would have had plenty of time to get back to the Nemesis and inform Megatron and his damned trineleader of the location. Megatron surely would have detected their movement and who knew what the tyrant could be planning.

As Ratchet reached the entrance he dreaded what he would be seeing. Only to be surprised by the completely whole and functional Sideswipe, who still tried to explain their failure to Prowl. The tactician didn’t let him off the hook as easily as he had hoped, and he greeted the sight of Ratchet welcome.

“Sorry, Prowl. It seems the others have arrived. Got to go.” He hurried.

“Don’t you dare Sideswipe!” Prowl responded, but as the last word had left him the connection was swiftly cut.

Instead the red frontliner turned his full attention to Ratchet.

At the concerned look on the medic he sheepishly rubbed the back of his helm, wondering when the wrench was coming.

::Sunny?:: he communicated to his twin.

::You are on your own. I have had my part.:: was the only help he got from Sunstreaker.

“Eh, hello Ratch.” Sideswipe favored the medic with his brightest smile.  
Then the wrench hit.

“You can’t imagine how worried I have been!” Ratchet yelled at the red frontliner.

“Uh, sorry?” was the only thing that Sideswipe could say to that.

Exasperated Ratchet left the entrance to go back to the others, grumbling now and then, cursing the twins for their recklessness.

Moments later, when the medic had run several diagnostics on the twins the little entourage was on the move, back to the base. Skyfire was waiting not far away. The large shuttle greeted them all relieved to see that everyone seemed unharmed.

o o o

The Ark:

Arriving back at the Ark Prowl greeted the mechs.

Sideswipe stuck to hide behind Optimus, he knew Prowl would be pissed by his antics in the cave.

As they entered the base Jazz came up to the red frontliner.

“Ya know ya’re scrap, right?” the saboteur asked the frontliner, a strange look on his face.

“He is that pissed?” Sideswipe asked warily.

“Stood out there an’ waited for ya since ya cut tha’ comm.” Jazz informed.

Groaning Sideswipe tried to leave the group to get to their quarters.

But Optimus stopped him from vanishing, wanting an update by them in his office. And Of course Prowl and the others would be there, making it impossible for him to shy out of it.

Seated in the office with the officers waiting for them to begin Sunstreaker looked around at the mechs present.

Prowl was sending glares at Sideswipe across the table, while Ratchet for once was relaxed. The last was probably due to the fact that he hadn’t needed to patch their afts together.

Beside Sunstreaker Ironhide calmly waited for them to explain what had happened, while Optimus patient as always was sitting beside the tactician. The contrast between Prowl and the Prime was never clearer than now. The always calm and collected tactician seemed about to yell at the red frontliner, and Sunstreaker got a feeling that Prowl would have something bad in store for them the next time they broke any rules.

“Please begin Sunstreaker, Sideswipe.” The Prime addressed the twins.

Sharing a look with each other it was Sunstreaker that finally began.

“We left the rendezvous point, where we contacted base as ordered. After that we went in the direction of the location Prowl had guessed might be the most probable location of Thundercracker. Shortly after that we came by the large stacks of debris that I am sure you also saw.” At that he regarded Prime to confirm that the three arriving at the location had seen the evidence of Thundercrackers demolition.

As he was receiving a nod in confirmation he continued.

“When we arrived at the location we instantly saw the entrance to the cave. It was clear that it was large enough to be able to let a seeker entrance into the mountain. As we came up to the entrance we heard a sound from inside the cave. We went inside to investigate.”

Now came the tricky part and Sunstreaker ran the words over in his mind before continuing.

“We were not able to see anything inside the cave, so we walked around some bit until a sound located where Thundercracker hid and I was able to get a hold on him. After that Sides’ joined me, and we had a little talk with the seeker.” He explained, while he in his mind went over the parts that they weren’t going to confess to.

“Then he somehow managed to get free of our hold and before we knew it he was out of the cave. We weren’t able to get a hold of him before he was too far into the air.” With that he added a sheepish look. The look was more genuine than everything else, since he did feel embarrassed at letting his guard down and give Starscream such a wide opening to attack them.

Prowl regarded the golden twin skeptical.

Ratchet didn’t know what to think about the explanation while Ironhide just snorted in disdain at the failure of the mission.

Optimus was looking at the twin intently to deduce whether he believed that the two of his best warriors truly could fail this much. They had had the enemy trapped in an enclosed area and still didn’t manage to pull out of it with the enemy in their custody.

Turning to the red frontliner Optimus asked.

“Is it true Sideswipe?” the Primes tone serious.

“It is what I kept telling Prowl when I accepted his comm. back at the cave.” The twin told, not looking at the Prime. It was fragging hard to be untrue when looking him into those trusting blue optics. Of course he knew he seeded suspicions by not looking at the Prime.

At the last thought, he managed to return his optics to look at Optimus and just hoped his own optics showed as much sincerity as he tried to get into them.

Half an hour later they were dismissed, and the twins eagerly left the office.

Back inside the office Prime regarded the still present officers.

“I don’t believe them.” Prowl voiced.

“I can’t see why they should make excuses up. They hate the seekers just as much as everyone, maybe even more.” Ratchet pointed out.

The twins were a special case for all the mechs present. They all knew more of the twins’ heritage than the twins themselves.

Ratchet had discovered an unnatural coding when they first had gotten the twins inside their base. Sideswipe was the one to show most of the unnatural coding, having his jetpack. It was something had he had always had Ratchet had learned from the study. And the love for the air was another part showing in their personalities.

The twin menaces showed potential to become seekers.

They had kept it a secret since no one knew how they would react if they learned the truth. And to reveal the truth would just cause more troubles. What the twins didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them in this case.

As long as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn’t suffer being in grounder frames they wouldn’t do anything about it. But they were observant to see if they twins ever changed in a degree that might cause them to betray the autobots. Seekers after all sought to be with seekers, and the only other seekers were with the decepticons.


	8. Chapter 8

The Ark:

The twins had retreated back to their quarters.

While Sunstreaker went to clean his armor of the dust and grime he had acquired during their failed mission, Sideswipe sloppily slumped on his berth.

::Do you think they bought our explanation?:: he asked Sunstreaker after some time.

Sunstreaker contemplated the question for some time as he enjoyed the feeling of the solvent cleaning the dirt from his frame. He would soon be his former shiny self.

::I am sure Ratchet might suspect something, and of course Prowl too. When has he ever believed us? We tend to make him disbelieve us.:: he growled.

::Hey I need those pranks.:: Sideswipe argued.

::But you don’t need to drag me into it all the time.:: the golden twin shot back.

::Oh, Sunshine, you like ‘em too.:: the red twin teased.

At that he was greeted by the scowling face of Sunstreaker peeking into the common room of their quarters still soaked in solvents and cleanser.

“Don’t call me that!” he almost yelled.

As the golden twin returned to the racks Sideswipes smile just grew.

::So, what do you think?:: Sideswipe asked.

::About what?:: annoyance clearly in the others tone.

::Thundercracker.:: Sideswipe added with a smile.

A long silence followed on that.

He sensed Sunstreakers confusion.

Then some feelings bleed through to him.

At that he could not avoid the snicker.

Nonchalant Sunstreaker ignored the soundly laugh from his twin.

Instead he answered the question.

::It doesn’t matter. Starscream is not going to let us near Thundercracker ever again if he can avoid it. That I am sure of. And we don’t know what their connections are beyond their trine.:: Sunstreaker replied, some shed of anguish filling his words.

::Can’t imagine myself ride on Thundercracker after this.:: Sideswipe offered some of his own strange feelings to his twin.

How fragged up it all had become.

The next they needed was for the rest of the seekers to be femmes or something else as big being revealed.

Sunstreaker left the wash racks to join Sideswipe, lying down on his own berth.

Silence reigned in the room for some time.

Then Sunstreaker turned to look at his red twin.

::Want to make a try?:: he asked.

::I know how wrong it is for me to say this, but is it a good idea for us to even contemplate doing that? We have done some pretty extreme things, but this must be the weirdest of them all.:: Sideswipe wondered.

::Weirder than Thundercracker being a femme?:: Sunstreaker countered.

::Hm, you are right. I still haven’t recovered from that fact myself yet.::

::So if one of us gets a chance, we take it?:: Sideswipe continued.

::I guess that is as good as anything.:: Sunstreaker agreed.

Silence followed with the twins both caught up in their own thoughts.

This time it was Sideswipe to turn his head and regard his twin.

::Think she will forgive us?:: he asked, remembering the times where he had damaged the blue seeker quite heavily.

::Dunno.:: was the only thing Sunstreaker send back, still caught in his thoughts.

Time went by and the two would continue asking questions until their systems cycled down and they entered recharge.

o o o

The Nemesis:

Starscream felt that he was on the rim to go insane.

He had followed Megatron down to the brig to deal with Thundercracker.

The blue seeker had been in the frontline of the tyrant’s anger since Megatron learned that the seeker had been back for hours when he had been informed.

Megatron had stormed into the trines quarter when he had been informed by Hook that the SIC had been by to gather his trinemate that surprisingly had recovered shortly after the two seekers had entered the med bay.

Gripping the blue seeker forcefully by the wings Thundercracker had been dragged down to the brig and had been thrown into a cell. There the seeker had been left while Megatron had stomped back to the command center.

Knowing that he needed to act fast if he were to defuse some of the anger towards his trinemate, Starscream had met Megatron when the tyrant entered the command center, ready with his arguments.

So where the tyrant had been inclined to deactivate the seeker, instead they had agreed on a lesser fateful punishment. Not that it made it all easier on Starscream with the active guardian protocols. He had been lucky that Megatron gripping Thundercracker and dragging of with the seeker hadn’t triggered it enough so that he couldn’t dampen the need to remove Megatron from the blue seeker.

Now however he was fighting what seemed like a losing fight with the protocols as he watched Megatron add a new gash to the blue wings, swinging the whip to prepare for another slash to the bended frame before him.

A pool of energon had gathered beneath the crouching frame and a violent jerk signaled that once more the whip had hit home on the trembling frame. So far Thundercracker had managed to remain silent, screaming and pleas for the pain to stop would not deter the tyrant, they both knew it, and the more silent he could stay the higher were the chance of Megatron stopping the punishment faster. 

Starscream gnashed his dentas as he watched Megatron prepare for yet another slash. The urge to shoot the warlord grew and grew. He hoped Megatron would finish soon so he wouldn’t be forced to act.

A few more swipes with the whip and Thundercracker let out a whimper, it seemed the blue seekers control also was slipping, and Starscream dug his claws into the palm of his servo. The sound had spurred his protocols demands for him to remove Megatron from his trinemate. He knew he could, just like he had subdued the medics when he had awoken from his stasis. But it would serve no purpose. Megatron would just retaliate against them both later.

A few swipes more and the tyrant finally let the whip hang lose at his sides.

To Megatron Starscream would look bored, indifferent that the tyrant had just spent an hour tormenting his trinemate. Inside he was bristling with only barely restrained rage. But he also felt relief that he had managed to pull through. The punishment had been just as painful for the trineleader as it had been for his trinemate.

Reaching a servo around the blue seekers neck Megatron drew Thundercracker up from the floor to face him.

“I would have preferred to offline you, but Starscream convinced me that he needs you in his trine. Show your value and I might let you live. Don’t fail me again!” the tyrant growled and then let the blue seeker go.

Every ounce of energy spent Thundercracker crumbled on the floor where he stayed still as Megatron left the brig, the whip in his hand still dripping with the seekers energon.

Starscream stayed still, awaiting the ‘con on guard duty to come and move the seeker back into the cell. Not many knew of the closeness between Starscream and his two trinemates, while the friendship between Skywarp and Thundercracker were widely known. That was why he kept his act up until the ‘con showed, and Starscream could dismiss the guard and follow Thundercracker into the cell. Sending the guard a salacious smile he let the mech know what he was about to do and the guard left him with his suffering trinemate with an evil smirk.

Thundercracker mumbled something, but the trineleader stopped her.

“Don’t say anything. Keep your reserves.” He told the other, while he discreetly reconnected the blue seekers comm. while disguising the act as something else.

::Lightstrike?:: he tested the connection.

::Hnn.:: was the only response. It was clear that she was drained from her energy. He would need her cooperation a bit more before he could leave the brig.

::I-. I need you to eh grope my codpiece.:: Frag how this felt so wrong.

She jerked a little in his hold to her helm, incredulous optics meeting his.

He sighed.

::I need to tend to your wings. And I would prefer if no one knew.:: he explained. There had not been negotiated any care for the blue seeker during the punishment which also counted weeks in the brig, without access to the sky and halved rations.

If Thundercrackers wings weren’t treated somehow she would risk infections in the large wounds littering the appendages in the time she was to spend in the highly unclean cell.

He could disguise the treatment with what would look like the blue seeker servicing him, and no one would be the wiser. He had done it before, so no suspicions would rise, if he was quick to do what he needed. 

::Oh. Okay.:: she reached a weak servo to brush against his codpiece and he pushed her helm closer, freeing his own servos to attend to the damaged wings.

He finished as fast as he could. Both to not rise any suspicions and simply because what she did felt too good. When she suddenly let her glossa caress the heated plating he was not able to mute the groan of pleasure leaving his vocalizer.

Looking down he saw her optics glazed with need. And he felt bad. Now was not the time. And the brig was definitely not the right place.

Her servos was working at his codpiece, seemingly having their own life. He could feel her succeed in removing one of the locks going to get the other.

::No Thundercracker. We can’t do it here and now.:: he cursed as he saw confusion in her optics.

::Star. I- I need. I need it. Been so long.:: she pleaded optics beginning to fill with tears.

::I know. But it will have to wait. I am sorry.:: he crouched low to wipe the tears away and look her into the optics with sympathy.

She didn’t respond, and he knew that he would not get her to say anything further. Looking the wings over one more time he turned and left the cell.

Looking at the miserable blue seeker still not looking up at him he activated the bars and left the brig.

‘Maybe ‘Warp can cheer her up.’ He thought as he walked back to their quarters.

He felt more at ease now that she had an active comm. to contact them if anything happened. You never knew what could happen. They were decepticons after all. And he didn’t trust anyone beyond his trinemates.

Entering the code he was greeted by the sight of a black and purple seeker slumped on the combined berth. As he entered Skywarp scrambled to get to his thrusters, nervously looking at the trineleader.

“He okay?” Skywarp asked, fidgeting with his digits.

A snort left Starscream at the question. “As okay as you can be after being whipped an hour.” He growled.

Skywarp fell back onto the berth, some tension leaving his frame.

“He is fine.” He mended. ::I fixed his comm. so you can contact him. But later. He is drained.:: he continued on their trine channel.

::Uh. Okay. Sure.:: the teleporter replied. He had just gotten the seeker back and now they were separated again.

“Don’t worry.” Starscream calmed. He went over to the other and sat down next to Skywarp. He really needed to get the lust that Thundercracker had awoken in his frame sated, and Skywarp was never one to deny some wing play.

Before long the black and purple seeker was lost in a haze of need, forgetting his worry.

o o o

A week passed where not much happened.

Skywarp had been by the brig every time he was off duty. The teleporter could do that without suspicion while Starscream would be frowned upon if seen there more than just once after he had left the blue seeker after the punishment.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the company of his closest friend, but Thundercracker now and then felt a need to talk with Starscream. Some of the questions that rose in his mind while he was confined were some that only Starscream would be able to answer and understand.

They had not explained completely what had happened when Starscream found the blue seeker. Just that he had and where the seeker had hid himself. They didn’t mention the reason for him to leave or the run in he had with the twins. Nor did they tell Skywarp anything about Thundercrackers true identity, or how he had been able to hide for that long.

Some that really troubled the blue seeker was the fact that the twins might have learned of his secret while paralyzed. What he feared the most while locked in the cell was for Megatron to enter the brig and tell that the autobots had revealed the truth to the tyrant.  
After all, what he knew of the twins made Skywarp look like a saint, Skywarp that they didn’t yet trust with the truth. Thundercracker wondered when he would need to tell it all to his friend. No matter when the time would come, he dreaded the moment.

One thing was the fact that the friend Skywarp had had for a million of years hadn’t been who he thought he was. But to learn that they were connected through a guardian bond, that in some ways fused them together firmer than any sparkbond could? That was the real fear. How would his carefree friend react to know that if Thundercracker died he might too and that the seeker had had no choice on the matter?

Starscream had taken his duty as guardian without much complaint after the initial shock had settled, and was actually perfect in the role. Who would have known that the traitorous sniveling cowering seeker could put his own desires away to care for another being? But of course Thundercracker was not just anyone. 

As the week went by Thundercracker entered a routine. Getting his ration of energon in the morning, expect Skywarp at some point around noon, and then maybe even later. In the meantime he was left to his own thoughts.

If he dared he could contact Skywarp, while Starscream had made it clear that he needed for him to only use the comm. to comm. the trineleader if anything went wrong.

Then Megatron announced that they would have a raid the next day.

Thundercracker watched the wide smile on Skywarps face as the teleporter stormed into the brig announcing his freedom, at least for the time the raid went by.

Starscream had made a valid argument for the blue seekers participation in the raid, by reminding Megatron of the fact that the raids without Thundercracker had gone badly because they had missed their third in the formation. It wasn’t completely untrue; Thundercracker had had an impact on their performance, just not the way he let on. The SIC was still surprised that Megatron had accepted his argument and followed his request by ordering the seeker released. Then Starscream had given Skywarp the order to retrieve their trinemate.

Thundercracker could not hide his own happiness as Skywarp told him of the news. His wings really needed to feel the air again. And the healed wounds had begun to itch. The air would be good for his wings to strengthen the healed surfaces and it would calm the itching. So he had no trouble partaking in sharing Skywarps joy, even if the freedom was limited.

Returning to the trine quarters Starscream greeted his two trinemates with a rare smile.

“Out!” he mock yelled as they entered the room. “Aerial maneuvers! Thundercracker you have missed out on a lot while away, and I am sure we lack. So practice!” he yelled at them as he guided them out of the base.

Outward they groaned at the orders, while all three of them looked forward to the time they would be spending together flying in formation. Sure the practice would drain them, but the joy at flying in a complete trine for the first time in months easily made up for that.

As they hours later returned to base they all three fell onto the berths almost in recharge the instant they hit the surface. The flight had done wonders for them all.


	9. Chapter 9

A loud blast rang out the battlefield followed by the sound of a stressed and screeching jet engine. Fighting with Onslaught Sideswipe didn’t know who had managed to score a hit on one of the seekers or who had been hit. He could not identify any of the special sounds that were different from seeker to seeker over the pained sound of the damaged engine.

Curiosity getting the better of him he slammed his fist into the face of the decepticon and turned to look up to see the jet flying overhead with its engine smoking from the blast it had taken.

Seeing the outline of Thundercracker in an uncontrolled spin on collision course with a large cliff not far away, he quickly scouted the air for any presence of Starscream and Skywarp. Finding the two seekers he knew the distance was too far away. Without thinking he engaged his jetpack and took to the air towards the troubled seeker.

::Sides what are you doing?:: rang Sunstreakers voice through their bond.

::I can’t just stand by and watch?:: he told his twin, voice unsure and he made it sound more like a question to see if his twin was with him.

::Starscream is going to rip that jetpack from your back you know.:: the golden frontliner growled, but he let his twin know that he backed his action up.

Reaching the still spinning seeker Sideswipe showed how deft the twins really were when dealing with the fliers. Without much trouble he stopped the spin and landed firmly on his pedes on the blue wings.

“What are you doing! Get off!” Thundercracker growled. With his systems stabilized he began to roll to remove the weight of the red frontliner from his frame.

“Whoa! Hey. Is it a way for you to treat the one avoiding that you crash?” Sideswipe spluttered, securing himself on the seeker by gripping around the large wings.

Ignoring the frontliner Thundercracker initiated the headless roll and Sideswipe for once not wanting to hurt the seeker released when he was sure that his descend was safe and he could release his parachute.

The parachute unfolding and slowing his descend he looked up at the blue seeker who had turned around and was going back to the middle of the battlefield.

::Look out!:: Sunstreaker hollered him and before Sideswipe knew it he was freefalling towards the ground.

Starscream had charge the descending frontliner and had severed the ties of the parachute.

The last thing he heard was the screeching voice of the decepticon air commander yelling for him to leave Thundercracker alone or the seeker was going to finally kill him and his twin.

Then he woke from the dream, condense dripping all over his frame.

The dream had been reoccurring every recharge cycle through the week since they discovered the truth about the blue seeker. Every time it was the same. And the voice of Starscream followed him into to real world.

His venting slowly calming he let out a sigh.

Then klaxons sounded through the base waking everyone. On the other side of the room Sunstreaker groaned as he was roused from his recharge.

As he sat up and turned on the light he saw the look on the red frontliner who were still covered in condense.

“Same dream?” he asked.

“Yes.” Sideswipe answered unease in his voice. There weren’t much that could put the twins off, but the dream somehow haunted the red twin and it made Sunstreaker uncomfortable too.

Hearing the pedes of the other autobots running by outside their quarters they both rose and exited to join their friends.

Maybe a battle would ease their feelings.

It had been a whole week and not much had happened from their enemies, the decepticons had been strangely calm. It never bode well for when a fight finally occurred. Megatron was sure to plot something major if the activity dwindled, they had learned that by experience.

As they hours later arrived at the scene of the raid, Sideswipe unconsciously let out a relieved sigh. The area held a nuclear power plant build in the middle of nowhere, and no higher points in the area could be seen for several miles. At the foot of the plant the decepticons were working on turning the energy produced into energon, filling countless cubes. They had gathered a considerable amount already and the seekers were coming and going with their cargo holds filled with the shimmering fuel, effectively stashing their raided goods away from the area of a possible battlefield.

Seeing the command trine being loaded for the third time Sideswipe began to feel giddiness in his systems. The dream was long gone at this moment and he just wanted to do what he and Sunstreaker did best.

Looking towards Optimus he watched the Prime discuss the last parts of their attack with Prowl. The power plant was a danger and they needed to lure the battle away from the building to avoid damage coming to the reactors inside. Everyone knew how bad a nuclear accident could be, not only to themselves but to the surrounding nature and wildlife and the humans working in the area.

Coming up behind the two frontliners Ratchet slapped them upside the helms and got their attention. Being his usual grumpy self he took the edge of their joy and caused some awareness to bleed into their frames. It was the usual reprimand to the two.

“Be careful. I don’t want to remind you of how a nuclear release affects our systems. Even I won’t be able to save you if you get caught up in that slag!” the medic growled.

Smile leaving his features Sideswipe nods in all seriousness to a moment later let the usual smirk grow on his lips.

“Will do, Ratch.” He promises.

Sunstreaker just nods and returns his optics to watch the three seekers take off; their cargo holds once more filled with energon cubes.

Narrowing his optics and zooming in on the blue seeker he studies the seekers features. Nothing visibly shows any sign that the seeker should not be what he is, a mech. But he knows Starscream is not one to react as he did in the cave and that there must be something about what the blue seeker said.

This would be their chance to shed some light on the topic.

::Fantasizing about a certain pair of blue wings?:: Sideswipe teases as he realizes what has the golden twins focus.

Punching the red frontliner Sunstreaker lets Thundercracker disappear from sight and he favors his twin with a heated glare.

Then as the seekers is gone from everyone’s view Optimus gives the order to transform and roll out, prepared to engage the decepticons left at the plant. With the seekers gone, closing the distance to the raid is done quickly and before Megatron knows Optimus is on him, throwing punches at the decepticon leaders faceplates.

“Decepticons! Attack!” Megatron roars and the two groups throw themselves into the battle.

o o o

Later on the Nemesis:  
Starscream watch Thundercracker across the Rec room.

The blue seeker had been strangely silent after they returned from the successful raid at the power plant. His optics going to the seeker beside Thundercracker, Starscream couldn’t help not being proud of Skywarp for once. The teleporter had followed every order to the last point and had fought valiantly when the autobots finally showed up.

Not that they had needed to fight; their goal had been reached long before the enemy showed up and what they had gathered just before the autobots attack had been extra fuel to fill their storage units in case of any low time later on. Not much of a loss when the fuel blew up, shaking the building of the power plant when a stray shot hit the stash.

Turning to leave the rec room to get back to the trine quarters Starscream briefly locked optics with Thundercracker. Then he left the room and walked alone down the corridors. He wasn’t much for the celebrations himself and found the solitude in their quarters more preferable than the commotion in the rec room. And Skywarp, even if he drank and enjoyed their victory would be enough to protect Thundercracker.

The teleporter had yet to understand his actions and why he reacted like he did at the raid. They had yet to tell him the truth and Starscream sensed that it would have to be soon.

Entering the code to the door he was greeted by darkness and silence as he walked into the room and turned on the light.

A relaxed sigh left his vocalizer.

It had been a good day, waking together all three of them and having their morning flight to prep their systems for the later raid.

Their duty hadn’t required much other than being transport for the fuel.

For once Megatron had cocked up a plan that Starscream had no arguments against.

The ground troops gained access and filled the cubes while the aerial troops were to transport the fuel away to a rendezvous point in a safe distance. That meant that when the autobots showed up the fuel would be safe, moved a distance that would be impossible for them to locate when they arrived.

Smiling at the victory, a large one for once where they both came out of the fight with more fuel that they needed and actually managed to injured and surely kill some of the autobots. Sure they hadn’t stayed to be sure the bots they had damaged that heavily actually died. They would have to wait and see if the medic was as good as rumors said.

In a good mood Starscream placed himself in front of the monitor and began typing, filling his reports regarding the raid.

o o o

Back in the Rec room Thundercracker was bored.

A drunken Skywarp was a horrible one!

Finally having enough he excused himself and moved towards the door, leaving the party to the energon consuming mechs.

As the blue seeker left the room he didn’t register the narrowing optics following his frame through the room.

o o o

So consumed by the report Starscream didn’t register the door to the trines quarters opening or the mech walking in. Neither did he hear the doors close behind said mech.

Watching the back of the trineleader as the seeker sat before the monitor typing away, Thundercracker studied the relaxed wings slowly fanning on the back of the tricolored seeker.

A smile grew on her lips as she continued looking the others frame up and down. Then with a glint in her red optics she moved silently behind her trineleader.

Draping her larger frame over the wingspan of the tricolored seeker she managed to force a startled yelp from Starscream. As the trineleader composed himself he tried to shrug her off, but she valiantly stayed crouched over his wings, now and then caressing the edge of them as she looked at what had had him so occupied.

Turning his helm he glared at her.

“Thundercracker!” he admonished her acting.

The smile on her lips just grew. With innocent optics she looked deeply into his optics.

As he turned his helm again, focusing on the screen before him, the smile grew to one of mischief and gently she blew air from her mouth letting it caress the sensitive cables in his neck. Feeling the shudder her action made she laughed out loud and elegantly flopped down into the lap of the tricolored seeker, her arms going loosely around his neck and she lazily hung there.

“I’m bored.” She voiced before Starscream managed to complain about her antics.

Sensing he was about to say something she halted his vocalization.

“I need to ask you something Star.” She said while looking into his optics. With their size differences she had to look down into his.

“Well. I sensed there was something.” Starscream sighed, waiting for her to continue.

“Did you have to kill them?” her voice asked shaking as she recalled the event at the raid.

At the question Starscreams optics hardened.

“They made the mistake to charge you. A foolish act towards a guardian protected transformer.” He said in a hard tone.

Seeing the concern in her optics he gently let one of his digits caress her cheek.

“I can’t control what the protocols do, Light.” He continued in a softer tone.

“But- But Warp-.” She began

“Lights, what they did was dangerous enough to activate Skywarps instincts as guardian. That tells me that what we did was the right thing. They could just have avoided targeting you.” He said, digit still caressing her while he let his own worry for her bleed into his optics.

Now that Thundercracker had brought it all back into memory, Starscream couldn’t stop recall the events that had enraged him enough to order Skywarp to kill the bot in his servos. Sure Sunstreaker hadn’t been doing anything actively, but the fact that Skywarp had gone for the mech said enough.

-Flash Back-  
A barrage of ground to air missiles rose from the ground, targeting the three seekers of the command trine as they flew over the area a bit away from the power plant.

Seeing the rising danger Thundercracker warned her trinemates of the danger as Starscream was busy with keeping track of Megatron while Skywarp gleefully fired random shots towards the grounders of the enemy, all to oblivious to the incoming danger.

As one they changed course and narrowly avoided the incoming danger. However a harsh blow of the wind caused Thundercracker to swerve a bit and somehow one of the missiles triggered. The blow at their tails scattered their flight pattern and Thundercracker was separated from her guardians.

When he finally got Thundercracker into his vision again the red frontliner was almost upon her. As the grounder landed on the blue seeker, Thundercracker swerved sharply to the right before Sideswipe managed to steady himself on the broad frame of the seeker.

::Starscream!:: Thundercracker yelled through their trine channel, disregarding that Skywarp didn’t know their deeper connection. Usually the seekers dealt with the twins on their own, usually two of the seekers had a twin on their backs.

Watching Thundercracker flying in uncontrolled patterns, the red frontliner having gripped her wings to stay aboard the seeker, Starscream realized that if the frontliner didn’t let go soon his grip on the wings would incapacitate Thundercracker, leading the seeker to crash into the power plant.

Engaging his engines and pushing them to their limit he hoped to be able to intercept the distraught blue seeker before any harm could happen to her. If she crashed into the power plant, she was dead.

His protocols activating in full force at the fact, his engines were fed more fuel and he managed to exceed his usual speed. However if it was enough to avoid the both of them and the pest of a grounder crashing into the plant he didn’t know. He just had to save her.

Finally reaching Thundercracker, he saw that Sideswipe still held on to her wings, disabling her use of the ailerons and thus kept her direction that would lead her to crash into the power plant.

“Get off him!” Starscream screeched at the frontliner, and his voice drew the attention of the grounder.

As Sideswipe looked at him Starscream was sure he was fear in the optics a moment before it was gone.

When the grounder didn’t let go Starscream ire grew and the power plant came closer. The only solution would be a radical one.

::I am going to push your right wing Thundercracker, prepare to gain control of your spin and then get the frag away from here!:: he tried to voice it as calm as possible, but didn’t manage to isolate his own fear for her safety.

::Okay Starscream. I am ready.:: Thundercracker responded.

Reaching the side of the blue seeker Starscream rammed his wing under the wing of the blue seeker. The force with which they connected hurt like hell, but was enough to jostle Thundercracker enough for the seeker to roll. At the roll Sideswipe wasn’t able to keep staying on the seeker and began to fall towards the ground.

However Starscream wouldn’t let the menace go that easily. He had had enough of the twins.

Diving beneath the frontliner, he transformed and grabbed Sideswipe out of the air. Then he engaged enough power into his thrusters to let them gain altitude. Unknown to Starscream, Skywarp had followed suite, as he had captured Sunstreaker from the battlefield where the golden frontliner had yelled up at his twin.

In an altitude of 10.000 meter Starscream had stopped their ascending and had looked firmly into the blue optics that shone with unease.

“This is the last time you are going to mess with what is mine!” the seeker growled, his usually screechy voice taking on a new threatening tone.

Then he had ripped the jetpack of the back of the frontliner, reveling in the pained scream that tore from the red autobots vocalizer. Letting the severed part fall, Starscream began to mutilate the red frame further, shredding the armor in the chest and baring the sparkchamber for the world to see. When he finally was satisfied he studied his work, then he let the frame go.

As the frame began to fall towards the ground, he became aware of Skywarps presence. Looking to the teleporter he was pleasantly surprised to see him holding a struggling Sunstreaker screaming at the falling frame of his twin.

“Kill him.” The trineleader ordered his trinemate, voice devoid of any feeling.

At the order Skywarp had done a good job shredding his captive, and mirroring his trineleader had let the twin go when he was done dealing damages to the frame.

Then they had both caught up with the distressed blue seeker who circled the landing site of the two now heavily damaged and dying frontliners.

She had not said a word since then.  
-End flashback-

“I know Star. But. Well. Maybe it is just because I have been away from the fighting this long.” She finally sighed.

“Now, let’s not waste more time thinking about them.” The tricolored seeker said.

“Very well.” She smiled at him.

“Anything else you need? Or can I get back to my report now?” he asked, a little smile forming on his lips.

“Actually there is…” She said after pondering for some time. Then her smile grew.

Moving her helm, she graced their lips gently together in a shallow kiss.

“I need you.” She whispered against his lips, and then she forced the soft metal together and deepened the kiss.

She sensed him stiffen, his relaxed posture going rigid and for some time he didn’t reciprocate her kiss, then the tension slowly bleed from his frame and he lost the fight against the pleasure he received from the touch. Soon he was devouring her lips fiercely causing her to moan weakly when she was allowed to breath.

During the kiss she had released her arms from their hold around his neck, and was exploring his plating. She could feel the heat slowly building in him as she dug her digits into seams as she let her servos travel down his frame. Reaching the cockpit she took great care to rub the glass causing him to elicit delicious hissing sounds of pleasure. Breaking the kiss, panting for air, she let her glossa swipe out and licks his lips before she began to apply small kisses to his jaw, slowly going down to his neck and began suckling on the highly sensitive lines there.

A groan rose from his vocalizer and a moment later she felt his servos caressing her wings, taking great care to apply touch to her wingtips. Unable to handle the onslaught of sensations in her own frame she shivered and involuntarily grinded her aft into his crotch plating transferring her own pleasure into his.

“So beautiful.” He whispered huskily into her audio.

At his words she became aware of a string of thoughts in her mind and an idea occurred.

“Let me show you.” She responded.

She could see a rare occurring confusion in his glazed optics, but nevertheless rose from his lap, her servos following his plating until the left him completely.

Initiating the command for the first time ever, she felt the special subspace that had been constructed together with her frame fill with the extra layer as it revealed her true frame.

Starscream couldn’t help it, in his hazy state the sight of her blue armor melting away before his optics made him ogle her, his mouth opened in shock.

Before him he watched Thundercracker bleed from the frame, revealing a smaller, more delicate frame, sporting white and purple. He frowned at the missing green coloration, but the mosaics were there, as was the striking blue optics.

When she spoke his spark skipped a beat and he was lost for words.

“I know I don’t look like you remember. The purple was a last decision. The green reminded me too much of my past. I needed to redo myself.” She smiled shyly. Her voice was like the softest velvet, caressing the audios of the mech sensually.

Rising from the monitor Starscream dragged her into his embrace. It felt strange to have to look down to meet the others optics, but again this wasn’t Thundercracker, this was Lightningstrike. The difference couldn’t be more, the frame in his arms inches shorter than him now and more delicate in the build, the red optics gone in favor of her true blue, and the coloration.

Lifting her helm gently he kissed her lips gingerly.

Mewling at his gentleness she clung to him and deepened the kiss.

She became aware that he was moving, and looked around to see what he was doing.

Leading them to the door, Starscream applied the lock that wouldn’t allow anyone beside himself to open the door. Skywarp just had to deal with it if he came back. He was sure to be drunk enough to not even be able to teleport. It was what usually happened.

“Mine.” He whispered in her audio and the possessiveness made her shudder.

Then he slammed her up against the wall, trapping her between that and his frame. She could feel the heat rolling from his frame as he grinded into her, causing their pelvic plating to touch and the slow movements to draw as much pleasure out of his actions as possible. Meanwhile he used his servos on her wings, scrapping the wide plating and caressing the edges gently.

Lost into the sensations she moaned and reciprocated his movements, grinding her own frame into his.

When he targeted her neck she lost her control completely. A snick sounded, signaling the opening of her cover. However when Starscream let his servo travel down her frame to reach the uncovered spike, he was surprised. The spike cover was still closed.

Shaken he withdrew from her, the lust momentarily subdued by his logic processor.

Whining at the loss of sensations, she grabbed for him to continue. But he withdrew further away.

“Light, what is going on?” he asked, his voice still filled with lust.

“You made me so burning hot today, Star. The anger, power and dominance you showed at the raid, and now your possessiveness.” She explained.

“I want you to take me.” She almost whispered.

“I can’t. The risk. It is too risky. You will end up sparked!” he told her, his voice gaining more authority.

“I need it. Need you. Or ‘Warp. But ‘Warp doesn’t know.” She whined weakly.

Unable to look at her, Starscream looked down. But he found that that had been a bad idea, because instead of being greeted by her pleading optics, he was greeted by the sight of her lubricant dripping from the open valve.

Behind its cover his spike made him painfully aware of its presence as it began to throb, pressing to be released from its housing.

“Frag.” He cursed before the resolve he momentarily had gained shattered and the lust rose in him again. Then his spike cover was released and he felt instant relief when the spike was free to pressurize. Kneeling in front of the femme he let a digit enter her valve, stretching her. Feeling how it clenched around his digit, his lust rose even further and he couldn’t wait to let his spike enter her. Applying a second digit and slowly making scissoring motions he widened her tightness.

Her servos made their way to his shoulders, grabbing fiercely at the plating to keep her standing when trembles began to rattle her frame at the feeling of him intruding into her untouched valve.

“Star.” She pleaded.

Withdrawing his digits, he licks them clean of her lubricant, enjoying her special taste.

Scooping her up he let his lips grace hers, sharing the taste of her fluids.

“Impatient are we?” he teases, an amused glint in his optics when he looks her into the optics.

“You have no idea.” She mutters. How was he going to understand the pain it had been, having to hide her true gender and need to reject the needs her true frame wanted.

Gently placing her on the combined berth of Skywarp and her’s, Starscream knelt down beside it and lets his optics roam her, taking in the sight of the femme.

Meeting the frown on her face he just smiles at her.

“Patience Lightningstrike.” He told her as he marveled in the sight. It had been so long time since he last had laid optics on a femme.

Drawing in a deep breath he tried to calm his franticly beating spark. He would need to be calm and collected to avoid hurting her too much when he broke her seal, and later when he cracked the plate separating the valve from her gestation chamber to let his transfluids flood the chamber.

The last thought made his processor spin wildly. He would spark her. What he was going to do would make him a sire. And she wanted it.

“Light. Last chance. Do you want this with the risk of being sparked?” he asked seriously.

“Yes! Yes I want it!” she answers managing to add some seriousness to her voice.

Placing himself with his spike in front of the opening to her valve he grips her hips and forces the spike into her waiting valve. As she moans at his intrusion into her, he feels her valve welcoming him, the calipers drawing his spike further into her.

Halfway sheathed inside her he meets the first obstacle: the seal.

As he looks into her optics he pushes forward applying force onto the ring of silicone, and without much resistance the seal breaks, allowing him full entrance into her valve. Seeing the pain flicker through her face as he breaks it he reaches a servo to gently caress one of her wings until the pain is gone. Waiting for her to indicate that he can move again he revels in the feeling of her valve working around his spike, the calipers stimulating him as they try to draw him further into the alluring valve.

As the pain clears from her optics and she begins to relax again he begins to move and slowly sheaths himself completely inside her and groans at the feeling of her encasing him completely. The feeling is so intense.

Moving out he enjoys the sounds he forces from her vocalizer as his spike stimulates her nodes all the way as he withdraw himself. Almost completely out, he pushes into her with the same care and forces his spike as deep inside her as he can. Entering a rhythm she soon begins to move with him, thrusting against his intrusion allowing him to go deeper and deeper. 

He can feel his overload approaching, but his thoughts is moments later shattered as she suddenly stiffen, her valve clenching almost painfully around his spike causing the overload that was approaching to happen now.

Screaming Lightningstrike experiences her first valve overload which is so much more than what she is used to from her spike. She can feel how her valve clenches around the spike inside her and the spike dilating as it is forced into her one more time, reaching the protective plating of her gestation chamber and releases its transfluids deeply inside her.

Coming out of her post overload haze she lazily sweeps the room, but stops in shock when her optics land on a certain pair of black thrusters in the middle of the room. Looking as far as she can, she meets the red optics of her best friend who is frozen on the spot looking at the scene before him in deep shock.

“Starscream?” she asks, trying not to show her panic in her voice.

“Hmm?” he murmurs, not aware of their guest.

Freeing a servo she points behind him.

Turning his head to see what has caught her optics he freezes as he sees Skywarp standing there.

“Frag.” He curses.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had a few chapters for this story i have yet to publish here on AO3. Now i find the time right to do so. About time i dealt with the evil cliffy from chapter 9, don't you think?:) Have in mind that i worked on these chapters more than 4 months after chapter 9, and i might have been thrown a bit out of the loop, but im doing my best. I will recommend you to reread the whole story, i think it will make things more understandable... so far you will get the chapters' 10, 11 and 12, keep up since a few large twists will happen in these chapters. Please let me know what you think.

Skywarp doesn't know what to think about the scene playing out in front of him. He had come back to the trines quarters, bored and missing his trinemates. Finding the door locked and not responsive to his codes he hadn't thought much about it and had just teleported inside. Unfortunately for Starscream, Skywarp had been more than capable to teleport in his inebriated state, not as drunk as the trineleader had expected him to be. And now the black and purple seeker is face to face with the harsh reality without knowing it, yet.

"What-the-frag Starscream?" Skywarp utters breathily, stunned at the sight of his trineleader and the female on his and Thundercrackers shared berth.

Retreating from Lightningstrike – clearly flustered himself – Starscream slowly rises, his spike retreating behind its cover the instant it is clear of the valve. Standing in front of the female, he shields her in her vulnerable state and gives her a chance to bring herself into a decent state before all pit breaks lose. Then, as Starscream remains silent, Skywarp asks the question he has dreaded ever since he saw his trinemate standing there.

"Where is Thundercracker?" Skywarp asks with a frown, "And who is she? I didn't know we still had females? Aren't they almost extinct?" The questions just keep coming and Starscream just stands there, optics strangely distant, his arms hanging loosely at his sides and shoulders slumped.

There is no easy way out of this Starscream knows.

"Skywar-" Starscream begins, only to be stopped by a pair of gentle servos on his right elbow. Turning he looks at Lightningstrike as she retreats her servos and cleans the last traces of their interface from her frame.

"Let me explain." She says when she finally is done and slowly rises from the berth to stand beside Starscream, facing their puzzled trinemate.

Skywarp is confused and his inebriated state doesn't help him to understand the signals the two seekers in front of him send. All he know is that something is up and he is about to know what. 'And where the frag is Thundercracker?' His processor keeps asking, dreading losing the blue seeker again.

"Skywarp." Lightningstrike smiles and slowly she takes a few steps closer, bringing her within inches of the black and purple seeker. The smile grows when she sees how his optics widens at the closeness. Then as she reaches a comforting servo to gently caress his lower arm he reacts, rearing back like she is something infested with a disease. "No! NO! Don't touch me. Where is Thundercracker? I want my Thunder!" Skywarp wails, his processor overheating from the ingested high-grade, the missing Thundercracker and whatever it is that is going in the trine.

"Lightstrike…" Starscream gently says, getting her attention and Skywarp visibly relaxes as she turns around to see what Starscream wants. The look the tricolored seeker sends her is telling and she nods in understanding and acknowledgement.

'Please Primus. Don't let him freak out more at what I'm about to do.' She silently prays as she initiates the reconfigure and opens the subspace holding her mech armor.

The mech armor slowly and fluidly encases her form again in front of the two mechs and while Starscream marvels in the wonder the medics all that long ago created for the female, Skywarp stares silently, his optics widening even more in horror at the transformation happening in front of him.

One moment there is a white and purple female standing in front of him, the next Thundercracker stands there, and it just confuses his inebriated processor even more. He isn't sure what is fantasy and what is real any longer.

Tentatively reaching a trembling servo towards Thundercracker, Skywarp jolts when it connects with the sturdy surface of the blue seeker.

"You are real?" the black and purple seeker asks, the question almost a plea.

Activating the vocord-disruptor, Thundercracker closes the distance between them and as he hugs the trembling teleporter close he rumbles a comforting yes.

It is all it takes for Skywarp to break down in sobs, and stoic, Thundercracker allows his trinemate to release all the up pent emotions. Turning his helm towards Starscream, he shares a certain look with the trineleader. There is no easy way for them to explain this to the black and purple seeker.

"Merge with me?" Thundercracker asks, fighting to keep his voice steady and not show how insecure he feels at the moment.

"Merge?" Skywarp asks incredulous, looking up into Thundercrackers optics from where he has been sobbing silently against the blue seeker's neck cables.

"Yes." The blue seeker answers, his voice firm even as his processor screams NO! Danger! He will KNOW!

Wide tear-filled optics studies the blue seeker for a long moment before Skywarp answers with a jerked nod.

Looking around, seeing the mixed fluids still on their shared berth, Thundercracker turns to Starscreams and gently leads Skywarp to sit down at the edge. Kneeling down between the black and purple seeker's legs he gently reaches a servo to caress Skywarps cheek. "Nothing to be afraid about." He murmurs, and even if the words seem to have a relaxing effect on Skywarp, the words are more to himself than the trembling seeker sitting in front of him. Their world is just about to be turned up and down and Thundercracker doesn't know what will have become of their world when they once again emerge from the merge.

Will Skywarp hate him/her?

Just the thought almost stalls the blue seeker in parting his chestplates. The thought of seeing Skywarps optics filled with hate towards him/her fills his spark with so much pain that he would prefer to have his wings torn from his frame than ever see that happening. But there is no way back. Skywarp needs to know and they have to deal with the consequences of the blue seeker's deception when Skywarp finally understand what is happening. With a deep sigh he lifts his helm and looks directly into Skywarps wary but also clearly curious optics and with a forced smile his chestplates parts to reveal his pulsing spark.

Suddenly bathed in his trinemate's spark light, Skywarp realizes that Thundercracker is serious about merging with him, and the sight of the blue seeker's life essence bare and oh so vulnerable in front of him fills him with a sense of foreboding. Slowly parting his own chestplates he hesitates for a brief moment before he leans forward and brings their sparks into touch.

Loud gasps and they are nothing and all at the same time.

The feeling is exhilarating and filling him with ecstasy. He is willingly drowning in his trinemate and the feeling of oneness consuming him in the merge.

Then memories begin to flow to him and suddenly he is treated to Thundercrackers past. A past that confuses him greatly as the memories come to him, until finally realization hits and the unveiled truth is burned unforgiving into his processor as a FACT.

Trembling he emerges from the merge and he barely feels how his chestplates closes over his spark as he stares almost catatonic at the blue seeker in front of him.

Thundercracker.

But, no not Thundercracker.

Because Thundercracker doesn't exist.

His lips begin to wobble.

His optics fills with tears.

His spark contracts painfully in its chamber.

All the love he feels for the blue seeker is worth nothing. NOTHING!

"Skywarp?" the sound of the rumbling voice causes the pain in his spark to flare and Skywarp welcomes the blessed darkness as consciousness leaves him.

* * *

The Ark:

While Starscream and Lightningstrike/Thundercracker have their issues making Skywarp understand what is going on, the autobots are caught up in more dire circumstances. At the moment Ratchet is in his medbay, more specifically his office together with Firstaid, Wheeljack and Perceptor. The four scientists are in a heated argument centering on the two sparks currently attached to external spark chambers connected to the spark support, the crumbled frames of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker lying inanimate and unrepaired in the medbay.

Why?

Because the two frontliners' frames are so damaged that they need to rebuild new frames for them; there simply is no salvaging of their current frames. It is a wonder how the two frontliners even survived the impact with the ground from the height they were released by the seekers and with the state they had been in before the impact. Their sparks should have snuffed out, there's no doubt about it among the scientists, but they didn't.

But building new frames and transplant the two sparks into them is risky and the chance that the sparks rejects the new frames is high, especially with the twins' strange coding. Born into their grounder frames, the strange coding had never been an issue, now when they need to rebuild new frames that coding can possibly be what is going to finally kill the two frontliners. Because there is no telling if their sparks will accept a grounder frame with their seeker coding, and they can't even be sure the sparks will welcome seeker frames.

Spark transplantations was always a risky procedure even on Cybertron before the war. And back then the medics centered the expertise on certain clinics to increase the survivability. During a war with limited resources and knowledge there is no way in telling if Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's sparks even will take to new frames.

In the case of rejection there is only a small timeframe for the medics to correct the issues in the new frames before the spark need to have a complete and functional frame to power. That is the true danger. When the transplant is commencing there is no stopping, only adjusting. If the adjustment can't be done within that short timeframe the spark will simply burn itself out due to the inability to release excessive energy and extinguish.

This is why Ratchet currently is looking at both grounder and seeker schematics – schematics stolen from the times the seekers have been captured – to understand the complexities and differences between the two frame types beyond the obvious. In the background Wheeljack is arguing the possibility to create hybrid frames, and while Perceptor finds the idea intriguing Firstaid is arguing against using the twins as experiments.

As Wheeljack is about to defend his idea the door to the office swoosh open and draws the attention of the four 'bots in the room.

"Any hope Ratchet?" Prime asks, his helm turning to look at the inanimate frames of the twins, avoiding looking at the spark support and the two sparks shining weakly in the chambers connected to it.

"I don't know Prime." Ratchet confesses. "These frame types are so different to each other." Motioning for the Prime to enter, Ratchet gestures to the schematics. "See here, here and here. And then look here, here and here. Seekers need more energy conduits connected to their spark chamber to distribute the increased energy flow released by a seeker spark. They need that extra energy to fuel their flight systems and support them in lift-off. This means that their spark chambers have a hexagonal shape instead of our square shaped one to allow for more conduits to be connected to the surface. Then we have the processor. And if that wasn't enough we have the complexity of propulsion and wings. A wrong decision now is going to kill them since we can't reconfigure a grounder frame into a seeker one and vice versa." Ratchet explains tiredly.

"Can't you just make one of each for them?" Prime curiously asks.

"I-" Ratchet stalls, his processor completely blown. The question silences the three others in the room as well and they stare dumbly at the Prime.

Why hadn't they thought about that?

Ratchets processor speeds up again, and still rather flustered he shushes the Prime out as he begins to assert if they have the resources to create both grounder and seeker frames.

* * *

The Nemesis:

A groan heralds Skywarps return to consciousness and as his frame slowly reboots vital systems thousand thoughts rushes through his processor. Most importantly, what caused his unconsciousness?

Bleary optics onlines and his sight fills with blurry shapes until his optics manage to adjust properly.

"How are you feeling, Skywarp?" Starscreams voice sounds distant in his audios and the teleporter turns his helm towards the direction of the sound.

"Wha-What happened?" he manages to say after several reboots of his vocalizer and even then he winces at how weak he sounds.

"Overheating." A deep rumble sounds, and the familiar concern is clear in Thundercrackers voice.

"Whu-?" His processor is still not running optimal and there is something bothering him. Something he should remember. Something important. But every time he reaches for that itching feeling it evades him.

A gentle touch to his wings and his attention turns from what is bothering him towards the mech stroking him oh so gently. A small smile forms on his lips as he turns his helm to see Thundercracker at the head rest of the berth, deft servos gently applying reassuring touches to his wings. Sighing, feeling deeply content Skywarp relaxes into the reassurance and offlines his optics to enjoy the attention.

"Feeling better?" Thundercracker asks, leaning down to speak close to the black and purple seeker's audios, his servos leaving the wings for a moment to affectionately caress Skywarps face.

"Yeah." Skywarp answers, before he turns his helm and with Thundercracker this close he connects their lips in a kiss without much trouble. His servos has their own life and just like Thundercracker did to him before he caresses the blue seeker's face, keeping them both still as he deepens the kiss.

"I have missed you so much." He adds when they both need to breath.

Then the happy little bubble Skywarp finds himself inside bursts at Starscreams distinct harrumph.

With a jerk Thundercracker separates from him, and even if Skywarp desperately reaches for the blue seeker, expecting the seeker to react to his need for closeness, Thundercracker just increases the sudden gape between them even more.

Looking away from the desperate look on Skywarps face, Thundercracker feels incredibly guilty. In their merge he had been able to see into the deepest feelings of the teleporter and what he had found had been greatly disconcerting.

Skywarp loves Thundercracker. Love him enough to want to bond, to be one and to be more than just trinemates.

With his back turned to Skywarp, Thundercracker allows all the anguish he feels to fill his facial features.

They can never bond like Skywarp want to.

The guardian bond prevents it.

"Oh Sky-" Thundercracker whispers unheard as tears begin to form in the corners of his optics "can you ever forgive me?"

A wail of anguish jolts him out of his thoughts, and the blue seeker knows that Starscream has told Skywarp the truth. The truth Skywarp saw during their spark merge and which his processor has tried to repress.

A sharp movement of air at his back causes Thundercracker to turn and he is face to face with Skywarp, one black and purple arm raised and poised to hurt him, but meeting an invisible force preventing the teleporter from carrying out his intention.

Wide optics stares incredulous at the blue seeker as Skywarps fists fights against the unseen barrier preventing him from hurting the blue seeker. Every time he prepares to strike his move is stopped like he hits against an invisible wall.

"You can't hurt her." Starscreams voice sounds harshly as Skywarp fights a losing battle against the guardian protocols.

A scream of rage leaves Skywarps vocalizer before he crumples into a pile on the floor and begins to outright cry and Thundercrackers spark almost breaks at the sound.

"Skywarp…" Thundercracker tries to sooth as he kneels down to comfort the black and purple seeker. But Skywarp scoots away from the reaching arms.

"Don't touch me!" he screams.

"I'm sorry Sky. So sorry." The blue seeker says, trying to placate the distraught seeker.

"I hate you. I fucking hate you!" is all he gets from the black and purple seeker, and even if the words sting, the brokenly sobbing voice saying them isn't convincing.

"I know Skywarp. I know. I hate myself as well for doing this to you. I am SO sorry." The blue seeker confesses openly taking the chastising words leaving Skywarp without any denial. "All that I hope is that you with time can… forgive me?" he asks hopeful.

Opening his mouth to answer, having prepared a rather scathingly reply Skywarp is stopped in doing so by the door to their quarters pinging and swooshing open without anyone of them allowing entrance.

Stepping into the quarters, Megatron stares disgusted at their pathetic display on the floor, Skywarp huddled in on himself, tears still flowing and Thundercracker kneeling still with his arms reaching, pleading, while Starscream is the only dignified of the three, sitting at the console finishing the reports he was working on before Thundercracker/Lightningstrike disturbed him.

"As much as I hate ruining this happy moment of yours-" Megatron breaks in, his lips quirking into a cruel smile "take him." As the last words leave the Warlord two grunts steps in and seizes Thundercracker.

::Don't struggle.:: Starscream calmly sounds to the blue seeker over the trine channel and Thundercracker understands. If he struggles it might activate Skywarps protocols completely, and still not knowing everything Skywarp is sure to do something hazardous.

With a faint nod in Starscreams direction, Thundercracker allows himself to be lead out and back to the prison cell.


	11. Chapter 11

The Ark:

It takes the autobots several weeks to build the four new frames for the two frontliners, and now Ratchet stares satisfied at the result of their conjoined efforts. One red and one golden grounder frame rests on the berths previously occupied by what had remained of the twins' initial frames. Off to the side on another pair of berths rests the seeker frames. While the grounder frames are exact copies of the old frames, the seeker frames are a blazing red and liquid gold with streaks of pitch black complimenting the wide wings. Ratchet is sure that should the sparks chose the seeker frames, even Sunstreaker will be pleased with his new look.

With a deep sigh the medic walks to the spark support and the sparks shining weaker and weaker for every orn passing. They need to initiate the transplant soon, before the sparks fade. Spark support can only do so much.

Another deep sigh leaves Ratchet as he glances at the seeker frames. He really hope they take to the grounder frames, frames they know and is familiar with, frames where Ratchet know what to expect. Seekers are so often a wildcard and having the twins of all turning seekers is going to be a pit hole of trouble. Not only do Sideswipe and Sunstreaker then need to learn to know their new frame type, they need to deal with all the mistrust and hate the change is going to cause among the ranks.

The door to the medical bay opening draws him from his thoughts and he turns to see Firstaid followed by Perceptor and Wheeljack enter.

"Are we ready Ratchet?" the other medic gently asks.

"As ready as we can be I guess." Ratchet grouse, quelling the unease stirring in his spark.

"Then let us begin." Firstaid nods, walking to Sunstreaker's inanimate golden frame together with Wheeljack while Perceptor joins Ratchet at Sideswipe's frame.

The transplant of a spark into a frame follows 5 steps. Each step is equally important, and issues rising in any of them can result in great danger for the spark.

The steps might seem simple and straightforward on the paper, but dealing with sparks always raises the risks and you can never truly predict how a transplant will carry out. Even the simplest procedure can go awfully wrong at the slightest inattention when the procedure commence.

First step happens long before the transplant itself, where the new frame is prepared and tested for malfunctions. By connecting the receiving frame to a "fake" spark – a circular device the size of a true spark and able to fit inside the spark chamber – they test that every major systems which is going to be powered by the transplanted spark is connected properly. When everything is working next step commence.

This step works with the internal systems and how they interact with each other and the major motor functions. In- and output is adjusted between the several systems until everything is within the proper parameters and working together smoothly.

It is imperative that these systems is working together without issues since malfunctions when the spark finally is inserted in the spark chamber can cause disasters and the extinguishing of the spark. It is work taking cycles for the medics to tweak and twist the variables to get as close to the optimal as possible.

Usually it is failures in this stage which causes most failed transplants in the end since the work is so delicate and time consuming and where one spark might have been able to compensate for a tweak in the wrong direction in one system, another can't. This is why the expertise had been gathered closely at certain clinics to have medics knowing that a spark with this or that frequency might prefer a twist more in this direction than that. But eventually it all comes down to the individual spark and you can never predict the outcome only try and lower the risk that something might go wrong.

When the internal systems work in as close a harmony as possible for the medics, they move to the next step, which is the preparation of the spark chamber. Every micro inch of the spark chamber is inspected and the energy conduits are tested to make sure that everything is functional. Major issues would have showed in the first stage of the transplant, but this stage is to detect issues which might not show during other tests. A minor fracture in the welds or an exposed wire is easier to fix before a spark is powering the chamber.

Finally, when all three stages of preparation are completed and no issues have come up, the transplant commences. It is the most dangerous stage in the whole procedure, where the spark is moved out of spark support and energy is building up inside it. It can only survive for no more than a dozen kliks before it needs a frame to power and release the buildup energy into. If something goes wrong in this stage it's always fatal. When the spark settle inside the new frame, the medics need to work fast to adjust misaligned parameters to this specific spark's preferences. The work done in stage two of the transplant, without the knowledge of the specific requirements the spark demands, can only be a general guess. Each spark is different, just like the personality of the transformer.

If the spark takes to the new frame, and adjustments work properly the transplant moves into the final stage which is a repeat of stage 1 to 3 to secure that everything is cooperating perfectly between spark and frame. At this stage there's still a chance for the spark to reject the new frame, but it is dramatically lowered. Usually when reaching this stage the transplants is a complete success unless something unexpected happens.

It had been a long process for the four autobots when Ratchet and Firstaid finally after cycles of intense concentration and not a small amount of stress emerged from the medical bay to voice out the good news that the twins had survived the procedure.

But even if they had survived it had come at a cost.

It is a mentally and physically tired Ratchet who leaves Firstaid to explain the complications which arose during the procedure and sluggishly stumbles down corridors to his very little used private quarters. Usually he stays in the medical bay, but Wheeljack and Perceptor is still working on the newly transplanted frames to tweak the last few issues and honestly Ratchet need time to adjust to the changes which is to come.

Keying the door open he stares into the dark room beyond, optics distant. Fumbling for the light he grimaces when it turns on at 100%.

"Light at 50%" he hoarsely orders and sighs when the light dulls to something bearable.

Sitting down on the berth he dejectedly rests his helm in his servos and allows all the misery to overtake him.

They had been so close to losing the twins. To Ratchet it doesn't matter that they survived; he can still feel the panic and impotence taking hold in his spark at the sight of Sideswipe's spark melting the spark chamber of the grounder frame. The vicious crackles and sizzling sound as the spark melted everything it came into contact with still filling his audios. There had been no chance for them to do anything other than initiate emergency procedure and turn to the seeker frames lying ready.

Thank Primus that the sparks had taken to the seeker frames, even if there had been issues. But compared to the melted spark chambers in the grounder frames it hadn't been life threatening issues following the transplant into the seeker frames. Mainly it had been issues with the propulsion system, non-vital ones that allowed time for the two engineers to work on them.

Slowly relaxing and letting go of the fear and panic Ratchet slumps down and soon recharge claims him.

* * *

Nemesis:

It's an unusually skittish and subdued Skywarp who, several weeks after the revelation in the trine's quarters, is walking down the corridor towards the brig. Weeks of stalling. Weeks of disbelief. Weeks of clinging to his old life. But Starscream had finally had enough and with an unmistakable order sent the teleporter down to see Thundercracker.

No, not Thundercracker.

Lightningstrike.

His processor is still spinning wildly with the facts mercilessly provided by his trineleader during all these weeks. Unwilling to accept, but unable to fight against the harsh reality that is his life now.

With trembling wings he stops in front of the entrance into the brig, and just stares at the armored door standing between him and what has become his worst nightmare.

Tears fill his optics as he begins to key in the code to unlock the door.

In his processor he clings to the last few straws of hope, a hope he knows is for naught.

Thundercracker doesn't exist. His love doesn't exist. All his feelings is for nothing. All his hope is a lie.

With a gentle blip the code is accepted and the door slowly swooshes open. Hesitating for several kliks it is first when the door is about to close he moves. Stopping it from closing again he jerkily steps into the darkened room.

The guard on duty turns to see the visitor and seeing the black and purple seeker he rises from his place at the console.

"If you're here to see Thundercracker-"Skywarp doesn't hear any more of what the guard says from there, his self-pity swelling at the name and ignoring the guard he stumbles towards the blue seeker's cell.

Offlining his optics momentarily, he prepares himself for the sight. But when he onlines them again in front of the cell housing his trinemate his spark skips a pulse.

Thundercracker isn't there.

Elation fills his spark for a moment at the fact that he doesn't have to face the unwelcome reality until an unsettling feeling takes over and his vents begin to speed up for reasons unknown.

"-tried to tell you." The voice of the guard filters into his audio.

"Thundercracker isn't here. Megatron ordered him to the throne room cycles ago." The guard explains when the black and purple seeker turns to him with a puzzled expression.

"Why?" Skywarp asks, his voice distant as a sense of alarm takes over his whole being. Unknown protocols are activating, invading and taking over every single one of his systems until nothing in his whole being is unaffected by them and some sixth sense is screaming danger in the back of his processor.

"How should I know? I'm just the guard on duty." The small grounder replies with a shrug only to startle when Skywarp suddenly runs out of the brig. With another shrug the guard returns to his post at the console.

As he runs, Skywarp tries to get into contact with the blue seeker, but when all he gets is static on every channel a sense of dread creeps into his spark and the protocols is running rampart inside him. Find her. Find her! FIND HER! They are screaming, and his previous depressive mood is drowned in the need to locate the blue seeker, to make sure she is okay, and if not…

The thoughts rising in his processor almost stalls him. What he would do to make sure she is okay, what he will do if she is not, and how he is ready to give his own life for her.

A shudder creeps down his back strut and he shakes his helm to clear his processor as the trine's quarters come closer. Skidding to a halt and punching the code into the door he is through the door even before it is able to accommodate his wings and he yelps at the stinging pain, but a nano klik later the pain is forgotten in the urgency filling his whole being.

"Skywarp!" Starscreams startled voice sounds and venting heavily Skywarp buckles over to calm himself and get his breathing more under control.

"He wasn't there." He says breathily as he gasps in air to cool his heated frame. "Thundercracker"  _gasp "_ wasn't in"  _gasp_  "his cell."

"What?" Starscream exclaims, standing abruptly and supporting his black and purple wingmate. "What did the guard say?" the trineleader asks, urgency filling his voice.

"Megatron." Skywarp manage to say before a new sense of urgency fills his being and he collapses to the floor at the intensity. "What the-"he dumbly asks, seeing Starscream stagger as well.

"She is calling to us." Starscream blurts, uncaring that even if he has explained much to the teleporter he hadn't come to the part with the guardian bond connecting them. And now there is no time to explain the feelings the black and purple seeker is sensing.

"Something is wrong and I'm sure it is Megatron that slagger. Skywarp, tell me. What did the guard say?!" Starscream urgently demands.

"He said Megatron had ordered TC to the throne room. He didn't know anything else. Starscream, what is going on?" Skywarp answers, his voice pleading to know what the frag is going on around them and why he feels like he do.

"Come. We will soon know. And I'm sorry Sky, but I don't have the time to explain this. Just follow your instincts, okay?" Starscream answers as he takes a hold of the teleporter. "Teleport us to the throne room, NOW!" he then orders sternly, his features set into an ugly scowl.

With a nod Skywarp initiates the teleport and they are gone from the trine quarters.

* * *

Less than a breem later Skywarp emerges in the air above the Nemesis carrying a severely traumatized Thundercracker and missing his trineleader.

Everything had gone wrong when they had emerged in the throne room.

The new protocols had taken over completely and he and Starscream had just barely managed to prevent the blue seeker from being raped. Starscream had charged Megatron who clearly had waited for their arrival and Skywarp had fought against the gathered mechs to get to Thundercracker and get them out. Then Megatron had charged for him, aiming the fusion cannon on Skywarp while the black and purple seeker with some trouble had lifted the barely conscious Thundercracker in his arms. Fighting to hold back the decepticon leader, Starscream had yelled at him to teleport, to leave him behind and save Thundercracker.

Shaken to his core, he had in that moment welcomed the strength the protocols provided and without another glance he had teleported out of there and left his trineleader behind, possibly to die at Megatron's servo.

An internal conflict is warring inside him, his obligations to the trine against the new protocols demanding the safety of the blue seeker in his arms. Confused he stares down at Thundercracker.

The sound of something breaking the surface of the ocean draws his attention, and he becomes aware of their vulnerability in the air. Expecting it to be attacking decepticons emerging from the Nemesis he increases the power to his thrusters and flies away as fast as he can with the extra weight slowing him.

::Skywarp. It's me.:: Sounds on the trine channel and the black and purple seeker sags in the air. Starscream had made it.

::What are we going to do Star? We can't return and we don't know how hurt TC is.:: Skywarp replies, slowing in his flight to allow Starscream to catch up.

"We are going to Africa." Starscream replies calmly. "Don't use the channel, Soundwave might try to listen in." the tricolored seeker adds sternly. With a tweak he activates the scrambler on the blue seeker and feels more relaxed now that he knows he is the only one able to detect where Thundercracker is.

Silently Skywarp follows him as Starscream sets their course towards the continent of Africa, hoping that they are able to stay undetected from their former allies.


	12. Chapter 12

After hours of flight Starscream finally slows down in speed, in the distance a large mountain range stands out. The cave where Thundercracker stayed during his time AWOL is the only choice they have for shelter until they have time to think about their situation, and at the moment they need to get out of detection from friend and foe.

Landing in front of the opening to the cave, Starscream gestures for Skywarp to stay in the air until the tricolored seeker has made sure nothing is wrong in their surroundings.

At a sign from Starscream, Skywarp finally lands and staggers with the weight in his arms. The flight has taxed greatly on his reserves and he is about to topple over in fatigue.

"Let me take her. Then you go in and lay down. I will be in shortly." Starscream gently murmurs, arms reaching for the blue seeker.

A silent nod from the black and purple seeker and Starscream cradles the much larger seeker in his arms moments later while Skywarp stumbles into the cave, the fatigue completely drowning out the claustrophobia raging inside him at the thought of recharging with a mountain on top of him.

Looking at the departing black and purple seeker until Skywarp is secure inside the cave Starscream then turns his attention to the seeker in his arms. Weak red optics look at him and she is venting shallowly, but nothing else indicates the female being conscious.

"I need to check you Lightstrike. Just relax and trust me, okay? It isn't going to be pleasant, but I need to know what they did." He murmurs, digits gently caressing her plating in what he hope is a soothing way.

Her response is a weak nod, before she offlines her optics and tries to flee everything. The reaction is so unlike what he would have expected from her as Thundercracker and tells him that something is wrong, really wrong for her to blow her cover like this, even if it is to someone knowing her secret.

Feeling how her frame goes completely slack moments later, he sighs and gently lowers her to the ground before he begins a throughout examination of her frame. Each little wound he detects, be that gouge or scratch, has his scowl going darker and darker. Almost nothing on her frame is left undamaged and hesitating for a moment he gently retracts her valve cover. Unholy wrath fills his whole being at the sight of the disgrace wrought upon her so uncaringly and his scowl turns to a grimace of anguish. Their first assumption that they had been in time is faulty as he stares at the dried tacky transfluids staining the rim of her valve and a searing rage burns in his spark.

An agonizing pain takes hold in his spark alongside the rage, and a furious shrill scream leaves his vocalizer.

His Winglady has been disgraced by grounders, and he has so utterly failed her in her time of need!

His spark burns with the need for revenge, but his protocols demands her future security, and him going on a crusade to revenge her is only going to leave her exposed and unprotected.

Slowly the burning fire in his spark dies down and with optics shimmering with unshed tears he begins to gently cleanse away any trace of the assault made against her frame. Then as the last of her shed energon and the offending transfluids is cleaned away he gently cradles her and walks to the cave. Inside it he lowers her affectionately beside a soundly recharging Skywarp and curls around her back to have her protected between her two guardians.

Listening to the calm sound of recharge filling the small cave Starscream denies his frame the much needed recharge and silently guards the two other seekers in their recharge. When Skywarp wake he can recharge, but not before, and he isn't going to hurry on the black and purple seeker. They are going to need all their energy in the turbulent times to come.

* * *

Groggily onlining from recharge red optics takes in the surroundings. The darkness is disconcerting and so familiar to the nightmare haunting her dreams during her recharge, but the feeling of a cockpit resting against the back of her frame is reassuring.

Flickering her wings slightly, the frame at her back moves, and gentle servos reaches around her.

"Just relax." Skywarps calming voice sounds close to her audial.

"Where is Starscream?" Thundercrackers baritone shakily asks.

"He is out finding energon for us. You have been out for two whole human days and nights." Skywarp explains hugging her closer to his frame in a comforting way. "Just go into recharge again if you need." He murmurs, his lips just gracing her audial as he speaks.

With a deep sigh she relaxes into his embrace. Skywarp feels just like Starscream now, and she realizes that both of her guardians got their protocols fully online now. She just hopes that the protocols aren't going to smother Skywarps carefreeness too much.

A gentle kiss to the back of her helm has her smiling. No, Skywarp is still Skywarp.

"Even if you aren't him…. I still love you. And I wonder how much of him which actually are you." Skywarp whispers hesitatingly, almost as if he is afraid of what he is saying.

Stiffening slightly in his embrace, she contemplates his words.

"I guess a lot of myself carried over into him." She answers after some time, and then she moves to face him where they relax on the ground. "And vice versa." She adds before she trails one of her digits along his jawline, taking in his features.

With wide optics, Skywarp stares at her as her digits touches him and when she leans her helm in to his he is unable to do anything. Soft lips touch his own and a gasp escapes his vocalizer as he keeps staring, shock paralyzing any movement he might have wanted to do. The "I love you." whispered against his lips has his spark spinning wildly in its chamber.

Then she moves back, their lips no longer touching and time seems to speed up again as movement and control returns to his frame.

A hitched breath escapes him and bright red optics stares fixated. Then he moves crushing her frame to his and their lips connects again in a searing kiss.

"Love you too." He desperately answers between kisses, mouth completely devouring hers.

"Skywarp." She whispers breathily against his claiming lips and melts into his crushing embrace, welcoming the flare of arousal she senses in him. When he rolls on top of her and looks down at her with a fire burning in his optics, she willingly opens to him and smiles reassuring.

"You want to…?" he trails of, his voice filled with need, but holding a serious tone that assures her that if she says no, he will stop. He is her guardian and he will never hurt her. He can't, not unless her life is in danger and circumstances require it.

The snick of her valve cover retracting is answer enough and his wings flare wide on his back. Retracting his spike cover he positions himself between her legs and the tip gently nudges at her entrance.

"Mine." He growls before he slowly buries himself inside her warmth. A long drawn out groan follows the slow stretch of her valve and when he finally settles against her gestation chamber he rests his helm against her neck panting heavily. "My Thundercracker. My TC." He adds comfortable settled inside the valve.

Curling her legs around his waist she clings desperately to his frame. It has been so long since they have had this together. "Your TC, my Sky." She adds to his vocalization with a smile, internally laughing at his stubbornness, but accepting his discomfort at calling her by her true name.

"Never going to let you go." She teases, adding more pressure around his waist and keeping him still. It is a challenge.

A mirthful laughter escapes him, and her spark fills with joy. That's her Skywarp.

"I can just teleport, silly." He smiles down at her.

"Hmm true, but would you honestly leave all this?" she teases, clenching her valve around his spike and drawing a groan from him. Her spark is swelling with need and she can't keep the teasing on for much longer before it drives her crazy.

"Frag Thunder, I have always dreamed of this." Skywarp groans, as her valve begins to ripple crazily around his spike, showing the desperate need filling the female. Moments later her legs fall away from his waist, allowing him to move freely and restraining himself from outright pounding into her, he slowly withdraws only to fill her completely again.

"I know Sky. And I am sorry. But now you have me." she smiles, moving with him as the pace slowly increases. Soon small whimpers escape her and it urges him on until they are both on the verge of overloading.

The furiously roared "SKYWARP!" is drowned out as bliss overtakes them and they scream out their overloads.

A few kliks later Skywarp onlines and looks up at an enraged Starscream. Somehow he is no longer on top of Thundercracker, but on his back. Puzzled he cranes his neck and looks around. Relief fills him when he sees Thundercracker to his right, then he returns his attention to the tricolored seeker looking down at him with optics ablaze with a hellish fury.

The usual greeting and apology – an automatic reaction to the rage Starscream shows – almost leaves his vocalizer, but this time he honest to Primus doesn't know what he has done to deserve the rage of his trineleader. Usually it is when he pulls an especially vicious prank.

"Look. At. What. You. Have. Done!" Starscream spits out through clenched dentas, roughly dragging the black and purple seeker up from the floor and facing him against Thundercracker.

First he doesn't understand and favors Starscream with an increasingly puzzled expression. Then Starscream points and his spark almost stop pulsing. There on the floor a pool of energon is growing beneath the still out of it Thundercracker.

"I TOLD you she had been raped and you just go and do THIS! What in Primus name to you think a rape does to a valve?!" Starscream almost roars into his audial.

"B-But she wanted…." He weakly protests.

"And you should have known better!" Starscream counters sternly.

"Lightstrike?" Starscream gently murmurs as he kneels down beside the blue seeker's prone frame, noticing with a sigh of relief that the flow of energon from the valve is slowly decreasing. But she isn't responding and small slaps to her cheeks produce no reaction at all. As Skywarp kneels on the other side of the blue seeker Starscream shots him a withering glare and the black wings droops on the teleporter's back.

"TC, come back please." The black and purple seeker begs desperately, his servos caressing blue wings with deep affection. "Love you, remember? Don't leave me."

A sudden drain forces both guardians to stagger as they feel how energy is leaving them.

"T-TC?" Skywarp croaks, hope filling his voice as blue wings begin to tremble under his touch.

"Sk-Sky?" the voice is barely hearable.

"Yes. It's me and Stars. I'm so sorry. I'm always messing up." The black and purple seeker replies, guilt filling his voice as he looks down as dull red optics onlines and stares up at them.

"How are your levels?" Starscream gruffly cuts in.

Unfocused optics turns on the tricolored seeker.

"33.54%. Didn't know I ran that low. Sorry Star." She whispers apologetically.

"With the amount you just siphoned from me and Skywarp I guess you ran just below 10% before then." Starscream adds deeply serious, rage filled optics looking up at Skywarp again.

"Oh." Is her surprised answer and now she understands his anger more clearly. "Sorry 'bout that Star. Didn't realize I was that low." she apologizes sheepishly.

"And your heated bout with our resident black and purple slagger didn't help it! You knew you were hurt, and yet you carry on?!" Starscream admonishes, ignoring the low growl from Skywarp.

"Here, drink!" the tricolored seeker then orders as he withdraws a full cube of energon from subspace. Before he leaves the cave to relish in the open sky he hands Skywarp another cube. They can just hear the muttered "Sparklings" before the tricolored seeker is out of sight and they share an amused look.


End file.
